Common English Bible CEB
The Message Bible MSG
1 When you sit down to dine with a ruler, carefully consider what is in front of you.
1
When you go out to dinner with an influential person, mind your manners:
2 Place a knife at your throat to control your appetite.
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Don't gobble your food, don't talk with your mouth full.
3 Don't long for the ruler's delicacies; the food misleads.
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And don't stuff yourself; bridle your appetite.
4 Don't wear yourself out trying to get rich; be smart enough to stop.
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Don't wear yourself out trying to get rich; restrain yourself
5 When your eyes fly to wealth it is gone; it grows wings like an eagle and flies heavenward.
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Riches disappear in the blink of an eye; wealth sprouts wings and flies off into the wild blue yonder.
6 Don't eat food with stingy people; don't long for their delicacies,
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Don't accept a meal from a tightwad; don't expect anything special.
7 because they are like a hair in the throat. They say to you, "Eat and drink!" but they don't mean it.
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He'll be as stingy with you as he is with himself; he'll say, "Eat! Drink!" but won't mean a word of it.
8 You will eat scraps and vomit them out. You will waste your pleasant words.
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His miserly serving will turn your stomach when you realize the meal's a sham.
9 Don't speak in the ears of fools, for they will scorn your insightful words.
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Don't bother talking sense to fools; they'll only poke fun at your words.
10 Don't remove an ancient boundary marker; don't invade the fields of orphans,
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Don't stealthily move back the boundary lines or cheat orphans out of their property,
11 for their redeemer is strong. He will bring charges against you.
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For they have a powerful Advocate who will go to bat for them.
12 Bring your mind to instruction, your ear to knowledgeable sayings.
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Give yourselves to disciplined instruction; open your ears to tested knowledge.
13 Don't withhold instruction from children; if you strike them with a rod, they won't die.
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Don't be afraid to correct your young ones; a spanking won't kill them.
14 Strike them with a rod, and you will save their lives from the grave.
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A good spanking, in fact, might save them from something worse than death
15 My child, if your heart is wise, then my heart too will be happy.
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Dear child, if you become wise, I'll be one happy parent.
16 My inner being will rejoice when your lips speak with integrity.
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My heart will dance and sing to the tuneful truth you'll speak.
17 Don't let your heart envy sinners, but fear the LORD constantly;
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Don't for a minute envy careless rebels; soak yourself in the Fear-of-God -
18 then you will have a future, and your hope won't be cut off.
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That's where your future lies. Then you won't be left with an armload of nothing.
19 Listen, my child, and be wise! Keep your mind straight on the path.
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Oh listen, dear child - become wise; point your life in the right direction
20 Don't hang out with those who get drunk on wine or those who eat too much meat,
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Don't drink too much wine and get drunk; don't eat too much food and get fat.
21 because drunks and gluttons will be impoverished; their stupor will clothe them in rags.
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Drunks and gluttons will end up on skid row, in a stupor and dressed in rags. Buy Wisdom, Education, Insigh
22 Listen to your father, who gave you life; don't despise your elderly mother.
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Listen with respect to the father who raised you, and when your mother grows old, don't neglect her.
23 Buy truth and don't sell it; buy wisdom, instruction, and understanding.
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Buy truth - don't sell it for love or money; buy wisdom, buy education, buy insight.
24 The father of the righteous will be very happy; the one who gives life to the wise will rejoice.
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Parents rejoice when their children turn out well; wise children become proud parents.
25 Your father and your mother will rejoice; she who gave you birth will be happy.
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So make your father happy! Make your mother proud!
26 My child, give your mind to me and let your eyes keep to my path.
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Dear child, I want your full attention; please do what I show you.
27 A prostitute is a deep pit, and a foreign woman is a narrow well.
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A whore is a bottomless pit; a loose woman can get you in deep trouble fast.
28 Indeed, she ambushes like a robber and increases the number of the faithless.
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She'll take you for all you've got; she's worse than a pack of thieves.
29 Who is suffering? Who is uneasy? Who has arguments? Who has complaints? Who has unnecessary wounds? Who has glazed eyes?—
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Who are the people who are always crying the blues? Who do you know who reeks of self-pity? Who keeps getting beat up for no reason at all? Whose eyes are bleary and bloodshot?
30 those who linger over wine; those who go looking for mixed wine.
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It's those who spend the night with a bottle, for whom drinking is serious business.
31 Don't look at wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup, going down smoothly.
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Don't judge wine by its label, or its bouquet, or its full-bodied flavor.
32 In the end, it bites like a snake and poisons like a viper.
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Judge it rather by the hangover it leaves you with - the splitting headache, the queasy stomach.
33 Your eyes will see strange things, and your heart will speak distorted words.
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Do you really prefer seeing double, with your speech all slurred,
34 You will be like one who lies down while out on the sea or one who lies on top of a mast.
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Reeling and seasick, drunk as a sailor?
35 "Though hit, I feel no pain; though beaten up, I don't know anything about it. When I wake up, I'll look for wine again!"
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"They hit me," you'll say, "but it didn't hurt; they beat on me, but I didn't feel a thing. When I'm sober enough to manage it, bring me another drink!"