Proverbs

When thou sittest to eat with a ruler, consider diligently what is before thee:

1When you sit down to eat with a ruler, think carefully about what is set in front of you.

2And put a knife to thy throat, if thou be a man given to appetite.

2If you are the kind of person who eats too much, hold yourself back as if a knife were at your throat.

3Be not desirous of his dainties: for they are deceitful meat.

3Do not crave his fancy food. That food is a trick.

Note"Meat" in the King James Version means food of any kind, not just animal meat.

4Labour not to be rich: cease from thine own wisdom.

4Do not wear yourself out trying to get rich. Be wise enough to stop.

5Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not? for riches certainly make themselves wings; they fly away as an eagle toward heaven.

5Look at your money and it is gone. It grows wings and flies off like an eagle into the sky.

6Eat thou not the bread of him that hath an evil eye, neither desire thou his dainty meats:

6Do not eat the food of a stingy man, and do not crave his rich dishes.

7For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee.

7Inside, he is counting every bite you take. He says, "Eat and drink," but he does not mean it.

8The morsel which thou hast eaten shalt thou vomit up, and lose thy sweet words.

8You will throw up the little you ate, and your kind words to him will be wasted.

9Speak not in the ears of a fool: for he will despise the wisdom of thy words.

9Do not bother speaking to a fool. He will only sneer at your wise words.

10Remove not the old landmark; and enter not into the fields of the fatherless:

10Do not move an old boundary stone, and do not take over the fields of children whose father has died.

NoteA boundary stone marked where one family's land ended and the next began. Moving one was a way of quietly stealing land.

11For their redeemer is mighty; he shall plead their cause with thee.

11The one who defends them is strong. He will take their side in the case against you.

12Apply thine heart unto instruction, and thine ears to the words of knowledge.

12Set your heart on learning, and open your ears to words that teach you.

13Withhold not correction from the child: for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die.

13Do not hold back correction from a child. If you strike him with a rod, he will not die.

14Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell.

14Strike him with the rod, and you will save his life from the grave.

15My son, if thine heart be wise, my heart shall rejoice, even mine.

15My son, if your heart is wise, then my own heart will be glad.

16Yea, my reins shall rejoice, when thy lips speak right things.

16Deep inside I will be glad when your lips say what is right.

17Let not thine heart envy sinners: but be thou in the fear of the LORD all the day long.

17Do not let your heart be jealous of people who do wrong. Instead, honor the LORD all day long.

18For surely there is an end; and thine expectation shall not be cut off.

18There is surely a future ahead for you, and your hope will not be cut off.

19Hear thou, my son, and be wise, and guide thine heart in the way.

19Listen, my son, and be wise. Keep your heart on the right road.

20Be not among winebibbers; among riotous eaters of flesh:

20Do not spend your time with people who drink too much wine or stuff themselves with meat.

21For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty: and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags.

21Drunks and big eaters end up poor. Sleeping your life away leaves you dressed in rags.

22Hearken unto thy father that begat thee, and despise not thy mother when she is old.

22Listen to your father, who gave you life. Do not look down on your mother when she is old.

23Buy the truth, and sell it not; also wisdom, and instruction, and understanding.

23Pay whatever it costs to get the truth, and never give it up. Do the same for wisdom, teaching, and understanding.

24The father of the righteous shall greatly rejoice: and he that begetteth a wise child shall have joy of him.

24The father of a good son will be very glad. A man with a wise child will delight in him.

25Thy father and thy mother shall be glad, and she that bare thee shall rejoice.

25So let your father and mother be glad. Let the woman who gave you birth be full of joy.

26My son, give me thine heart, and let thine eyes observe my ways.

26My son, give me your heart, and keep your eyes on the way I live.

27For a whore is a deep ditch; and a strange woman is a narrow pit.

27A prostitute is a deep pit. Another man's wife is a narrow well you cannot climb out of.

NoteThe King James Version says "strange woman." It means a woman who belongs to another man, not a foreigner or a stranger.

28She also lieth in wait as for a prey, and increaseth the transgressors among men.

28She waits in hiding, like a robber, and many more men break faith because of her.

29Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who hath babbling? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes?

29Who ends up miserable? Who is sad? Who fights? Who complains? Who has cuts for no reason? Who has red eyes?

30They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine.

30The people who sit too long over their wine, who go looking for the next mixed drink.

31Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright.

31Do not stare at the wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup and slides down so easily.

32At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder.

32In the end it bites like a snake. It stings like a poisonous viper.

33Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thine heart shall utter perverse things.

33Your eyes will see things that are not there, and your mind will say twisted things.

34Yea, thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea, or as he that lieth upon the top of a mast.

34You will feel like someone lying down out at sea, or asleep on top of a swaying mast.

35They have stricken me, shalt thou say, and I was not sick; they have beaten me, and I felt it not: when shall I awake? I will seek it yet again.

35You will say, "They hit me, but I did not feel it. They beat me, but I did not know. When will I wake up? I want another drink."