New International Version NIV
Douay-Rheims Catholic Bible RHE
1 When you sit to dine with a ruler, note well what is before you,
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When thou shalt sit to eat with a prince, consider diligently what is set before thy face:
2 and put a knife to your throat if you are given to gluttony.
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And put a knife to thy throat, if it be so that thou have thy soul in thy own power.
3 Do not crave his delicacies, for that food is deceptive.
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Be not desirous of his meats, in which is the bread of deceit.
4 Do not wear yourself out to get rich; do not trust your own cleverness.
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Labour not to be rich: but set bounds to thy prudence
5 Cast but a glance at riches, and they are gone, for they will surely sprout wings and fly off to the sky like an eagle.
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Lift not up thy eyes to riches which thou canst not have: because they shall make themselves wings like those of an eagle, and shall fly towards heaven.
6 Do not eat the food of a begrudging host, do not crave his delicacies;
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Eat not with an envious man, and desire not his meats:
7 for he is the kind of person who is always thinking about the cost.“Eat and drink,” he says to you, but his heart is not with you.
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Because, like a soothsayer, and diviner, he thinketh that which he knoweth not. Eat and drink, will he say to thee: and his mind is not with thee.
8 You will vomit up the little you have eaten and will have wasted your compliments.
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The meats which thou hadst eaten, thou shalt vomit up: and shalt lose thy beautiful words.
9 Do not speak to fools, for they will scorn your prudent words.
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Speak not in the ears of fools: because they will despise the instruction of thy speech.
10 Do not move an ancient boundary stone or encroach on the fields of the fatherless,
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Touch not the bounds of little ones: and enter not into the field of the fatherless:
11 for their Defender is strong; he will take up their case against you.
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For their near kinsman is strong: and he will judge their cause against thee.
12 Apply your heart to instruction and your ears to words of knowledge.
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Let thy heart apply itself to instruction and thy ears to words of knowledge.
13 Do not withhold discipline from a child; if you punish them with the rod, they will not die.
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Withhold not correction from a child: for if thou strike him with the rod, he shall not die.
14 Punish them with the rod and save them from death.
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Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and deliver his soul from hell
15 My son, if your heart is wise, then my heart will be glad indeed;
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My son, if thy mind be wise, my heart shall rejoice with thee:
16 my inmost being will rejoice when your lips speak what is right.
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And my reins shall rejoice, when thy lips shall speak what is right.
17 Do not let your heart envy sinners, but always be zealous for the fear of the LORD.
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Let not thy heart envy sinners: but be thou in the fear of the Lord all the day long:
18 There is surely a future hope for you, and your hope will not be cut off.
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Because thou shalt have hope in the latter end, and thy expectation shall not be taken away.
19 Listen, my son, and be wise, and set your heart on the right path:
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Hear thou, my son, and be wise: and guide thy mind in the way
20 Do not join those who drink too much wine or gorge themselves on meat,
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Be not in the feasts of great drinkers, nor in their revellings, who contribute flesh to eat:
21 for drunkards and gluttons become poor, and drowsiness clothes them in rags.
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Because they that give themselves to drinking, and that club together, shall be consumed: and drowsiness shall be clothed with rags
22 Listen to your father, who gave you life, and do not despise your mother when she is old.
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Hearken to thy father, that begot thee: and despise not thy mother when she is old.
23 Buy the truth and do not sell it— wisdom, instruction and insight as well.
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Buy truth, and do not sell wisdom, and instruction, and understanding.
24 The father of a righteous child has great joy; a man who fathers a wise son rejoices in him.
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The father of the just rejoiceth greatly: he that hath begotten a wise son, shall have joy in him.
25 May your father and mother rejoice; may she who gave you birth be joyful!
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Let thy father and thy mother be joyful, and let her rejoice that bore thee.
26 My son, give me your heart and let your eyes delight in my ways,
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My son, give me thy heart: and let thy eyes keep my ways.
27 for an adulterous woman is a deep pit, and a wayward wife is a narrow well.
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For a harlot is a deep ditch: and a strange woman is a narrow pit.
28 Like a bandit she lies in wait and multiplies the unfaithful among men.
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She lieth in wait in the way as a robber, and him whom she shall see unwary, she will kill.
29 Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has strife? Who has complaints? Who has needless bruises? Who has bloodshot eyes?
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Who hath woe? whose father hath woe? who hath contentions? who falls into pits? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes?
30 Those who linger over wine, who go to sample bowls of mixed wine.
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Surely they that pass their time in wine, and study to drink off their cups.
31 Do not gaze at wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup, when it goes down smoothly!
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Look not upon the wine when it is yellow, when the colour thereof shineth in the glass: it goeth in pleasantly,
32 In the end it bites like a snake and poisons like a viper.
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But in the end, it will bite like a snake, and will spread abroad poison like a basilisk.
33 Your eyes will see strange sights, and your mind will imagine confusing things.
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Thy eyes shall behold strange women, and thy heart shall utter perverse things.
34 You will be like one sleeping on the high seas, lying on top of the rigging.
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And thou shalt be as one sleeping in the midst of the sea, and as a pilot fast asleep when the stern is lost.
35 “They hit me,” you will say, “but I’m not hurt! They beat me, but I don’t feel it! When will I wake up so I can find another drink?”
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And thou shalt say: They have beaten me, but I was not sensible of pain: they drew me, and I felt not: when shall I awake and find wine again?
Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NIV) are from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica. All rights reserved worldwide.
The Douay-Rheims Bible is in the public domain.