箴言 第 23 章

¹你若與官長坐席，要留意在你面前的是誰。When thou sittest to eat with a ruler, consider diligently what is before thee:

²你若是貪食的，就當拿刀放在喉嚨上。And put a knife to thy throat, if thou be a man given to appetite.

³不可貪戀他的美食，因為是哄人的食物。Be not desirous of his dainties: for they are deceitful meat.

⁴不要勞碌求富，休仗自己的聰明。Labour not to be rich: cease from thine own wisdom.

⁵你豈要定睛在虛無的錢財上麼？因錢財必長翅膀，如鷹向天飛去。Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not? for riches certainly make themselves wings; they fly away as an eagle toward heaven.

⁶不要吃惡眼人的飯，也不要貪他的美味；Eat thou not the bread of him that hath an evil eye, neither desire thou his dainty meats:

⁷因為他心怎樣思量，他為人就是怎樣。他雖對你說，請吃，請喝，他的心卻與你相背。For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee.

⁸你所吃的那點食物必吐出來；你所說的甘美言語也必落空。The morsel which thou hast eaten shalt thou vomit up, and lose thy sweet words.

⁹你不要說話給愚昧人聽，因他必藐視你智慧的言語。Speak not in the ears of a fool: for he will despise the wisdom of thy words.

¹⁰不可挪移古時的地界，也不可侵入孤兒的田地；Remove not the old landmark; and enter not into the fields of the fatherless:

¹¹因他們的救贖主大有能力，他必向你為他們辨屈。For their redeemer is mighty; he shall plead their cause with thee.

¹²你要留心領受訓誨，側耳聽從知識的言語。Apply thine heart unto instruction, and thine ears to the words of knowledge.

¹³不可不管教孩童；你用杖打他，他必不至於死。Withhold not correction from the child: for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die.

¹⁴你要用杖打他，就可以救他的靈魂免下陰間。Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell.

¹⁵我兒，你心若存智慧，我的心也甚歡喜。My son, if thine heart be wise, my heart shall rejoice, even mine.

¹⁶你的嘴若說正直話，我的心腸也必快樂。Yea, my reins shall rejoice, when thy lips speak right things.

¹⁷你心中不要嫉妒罪人，只要終日敬畏耶和華；Let not thine heart envy sinners: but be thou in the fear of the LORD all the day long.

¹⁸因為至終必有善報，你的指望也不致斷絕。For surely there is an end; and thine expectation shall not be cut off.

¹⁹我兒，你當聽，當存智慧，好在正道上引導你的心。Hear thou, my son, and be wise, and guide thine heart in the way.

²⁰好飲酒的，好吃肉的，不要與他們來往；Be not among winebibbers; among riotous eaters of flesh:

²¹因為好酒貪食的，必致貧窮；好睡覺的，必穿破爛衣服。For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty: and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags.

²²你要聽從生你的父親；你母親老了，也不可藐視他。Hearken unto thy father that begat thee, and despise not thy mother when she is old.

²³你當買真理；就是智慧、訓誨，和聰明也都不可賣。Buy the truth, and sell it not; also wisdom, and instruction, and understanding.

²⁴義人的父親必大得快樂；人生智慧的兒子，必因他歡喜。The father of the righteous shall greatly rejoice: and he that begetteth a wise child shall have joy of him.

²⁵你要使父母歡喜，使生你的快樂。Thy father and thy mother shall be glad, and she that bare thee shall rejoice.

²⁶我兒，要將你的心歸我；你的眼目也要喜悅我的道路。My son, give me thine heart, and let thine eyes observe my ways.

²⁷妓女是深坑；外女是窄阱。For a whore is a deep ditch; and a strange woman is a narrow pit.

²⁸他埋伏好像強盜；他使人中多有奸詐的。She also lieth in wait as for a prey, and increaseth the transgressors among men.

²⁹誰有禍患？誰有憂愁？誰有爭鬥？誰有哀歎（或譯：怨言）？誰無故受傷？誰眼目紅赤？Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who hath babbling? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes?

³⁰就是那流連飲酒、常去尋找調和酒的人。They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine.

³¹酒發紅，在杯中閃爍，你不可觀看，雖然下咽舒暢，終久是咬你如蛇，刺你如毒蛇。Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright.

³²(本節與上節合併)At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder.

³³你眼必看見異怪的事（或譯：淫婦）；你心必發出乖謬的話。Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thine heart shall utter perverse things.

³⁴你必像躺在海中，或像臥在桅杆上。Yea, 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.

³⁵你必說：人打我，我卻未受傷；人鞭打我，我竟不覺得。我幾時清醒，我仍去尋酒。They 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.