KJ3 Literal Translation
Proverbs 23
As a man thinks in his heart, so is he.
1When you sit down to eat with a ruler; considering, consider what is before you,
2and put a knife to your throat if you are an owner of a soul.
3Do not desire his delicacies, for it is the bread of lies.
4Do not labor to become rich; cease from your own understanding.
5Will your eyes fly on it? And it is not! For making it makes wings for itself; it flies into the heavens like an eagle.
6Do not eat the bread of one having an evil eye, and do not desire his delicacies,
7for as he reasons out in his soul, so is he. He says to you, Eat and drink, but his heart is not with you.
8You shall vomit the bit you have eaten and spoil your pleasant words.
9Do not speak in the ears of a fool, for he will despise the prudence of your words.
10Do not move the old landmark, and do not enter into the fields of the fatherless,
11for their Redeemer is a strong One, He will contend for their cause with you.
12Bring your heart in for instruction, and your ears to the words of knowledge.
13Do not withhold correction from a boy, for if you strike him with the rod, he will not die.
14You shall strike him with the rod, and you shall deliver him from Sheol.
15My son, if your heart is wise, my heart shall rejoice, even I.
16And my reins shall exult when your lips speak right things.
17Do not let your heart envy sinners, but only be in the fear of Jehovah all the day.
18For surely there is a hereafter, and your hope shall not be cut off.
19My son, hear you, and be wise, and advance your heart in the way.
20Be not among heavy drinkers of wine, with a glutton of flesh to themselves,
21for the drunkard and the one being a glutton lose all, and with drowsiness shall clothe one with rags.
22Listen to your father, this one fathered you, and do not despise your mother when she is old.
23Buy the truth, and sell it not, also wisdom, and instruction and understanding.
24The father of a righteous one shall greatly rejoice, and he who fathers a wise one shall even be glad in him.
25Your father and your mother shall be glad, and she who bore you shall rejoice.
26My son, give Me your heart, and let your eyes watch My ways.
27For a deep pit is one doing adultery, and a strange woman is a narrow well.
28Surely she lies in wait, as for prey, and she increases one acting deceitfully among men.
29To whom is woe, to whom is sorrow? To whom are there contentions, to whom is babbling? To whom are wounds without cause? To whom are brilliant eyes?
30Those who stay long at the wine, those who go to seek mixed wine.
31Do not look at the wine when it is red, when it gives its sparkle in the cup, when it goes down smoothly,
32at its last it bites like a snake, and it stings like a viper.
33Your eyes shall look on strange women, and your heart shall speak perverse things;
34yes, you shall be as one who lies down in the heart of the sea, or as he who lies on the top of a mast,
35saying, They struck me! I was not sick! They beat me, yet I did not know. When I awaken I will add to it, I will still seek it.
Read Proverbs 23 in the interactive reader with the Hebrew and Greek side by side, audio narration, and the TWOT dictionary.
Open in the reader