| | | English | Latin |
| 23 | 1 | When thou shalt sit to eat with a prince, consider diligently what is set before thy face: | quando sederis ut comedas cum principe diligenter adtende quae posita sunt ante faciem tuam |
| 23 | 2 | And put a knife to thy throat, if it be so that thou have thy soul in thy own power. | et statue cultrum in gutture tuo si tamen habes in potestate animam tuam |
| 23 | 3 | Be not desirous of his meats, in which is the bread of deceit. | ne desideres de cibis eius in quo est panis mendacii |
| 23 | 4 | Labour not to be rich: but set bounds to thy prudence. | noli laborare ut diteris sed prudentiae tuae pone modum |
| 23 | 5 | 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. | ne erigas oculos tuos ad opes quas habere non potes quia facient sibi pinnas quasi aquilae et avolabunt in caelum |
| 23 | 6 | Eat not with an envious man, and desire not his meats: | ne comedas cum homine invido et ne desideres cibos eius |
| 23 | 7 | 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. | quoniam in similitudinem arioli et coniectoris aestimat quod ignorat comede et bibe dicet tibi et mens eius non est tecum |
| 23 | 8 | The meats which thou hadst eaten, thou shalt vomit up: and shalt loose thy beautiful words. | cibos quos comederas evomes et perdes pulchros sermones tuos |
| 23 | 9 | Speak not in the ears of fools: because they will despise the instruction of thy speech. | in auribus insipientium ne loquaris quia despicient doctrinam eloquii tui |
| 23 | 10 | Touch not the bounds of little ones: and enter not into the field of the fatherless: | ne adtingas terminos parvulorum et agrum pupillorum ne introeas |
| 23 | 11 | For their near kinsman is strong: and he will judge their cause against thee. | propinquus enim eorum Fortis est et ipse iudicabit contra te causam illorum |
| 23 | 12 | Let thy heart apply itself to instruction and thy ears to words of knowledge. | ingrediatur ad doctrinam cor tuum et aures tuae ad verba scientiae |
| 23 | 13 | Withhold not correction from a child: for if thou strike him with the rod, he shall not die. | noli subtrahere a puero disciplinam si enim percusseris eum virga non morietur |
| 23 | 14 | Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and deliver his soul from hell. | tu virga percuties eum et animam eius de inferno liberabis |
| 23 | 15 | My son, if thy mind be wise, my heart shall rejoice with thee: | fili mi si sapiens fuerit animus tuus gaudebit tecum cor meum |
| 23 | 16 | And my reins shall rejoice, when thy lips shall speak what is right. | et exultabunt renes mei cum locuta fuerint rectum labia tua |
| 23 | 17 | Let not thy heart envy sinners: but be thou in the fear of the Lord all the day long: | non aemuletur cor tuum peccatores sed in timore Domini esto tota die |
| 23 | 18 | Because thou shalt have hope in the latter end, and thy expectation shall not be taken away. | quia habebis spem in novissimo et praestolatio tua non auferetur |
| 23 | 19 | Hear thou, my son, and be wise: and guide thy mind in the way. | audi fili mi et esto sapiens et dirige in via animum tuum |
| 23 | 20 | Be not in the feasts of great drinkers, nor in their revellings, who contribute flesh to eat: | noli esse in conviviis potatorum nec in comesationibus eorum qui carnes ad vescendum conferunt |
| 23 | 21 | Because they that give themselves to drinking, and that club together, shall be consumed: and drowsiness shall be clothed with rags. | quia vacantes potibus et dantes symbola consumentur et vestietur pannis dormitatio |
| 23 | 22 | Hearken to thy father, that begot thee: and despise not thy mother when she is old. | audi patrem tuum qui genuit te et ne contemnas cum senuerit mater tua |
| 23 | 23 | Buy truth, and do not sell wisdom, and instruction, and understanding. | veritatem eme et noli vendere sapientiam et doctrinam et intellegentiam |
| 23 | 24 | The father of the just rejoiceth greatly: he that hath begotten a wise son, shall have joy in him. | exultat gaudio pater iusti qui sapientem genuit laetabitur in eo |
| 23 | 25 | Let thy father and thy mother be joyful, and let her rejoice that bore thee. | gaudeat pater tuus et mater tua et exultet quae genuit te |
| 23 | 26 | My son, give me thy heart: and let thy eyes keep my ways. | praebe fili mi cor tuum mihi et oculi tui vias meas custodiant |
| 23 | 27 | For a harlot is a deep ditch: and a strange woman is a narrow pit. | fovea enim profunda est meretrix et puteus angustus aliena |
| 23 | 28 | She lieth in wait in the way as a robber, and him whom she shall see unwary, she will kill. | insidiatur in via quasi latro et quos incautos viderit interficit |
| 23 | 29 | Who hath woe? whose father hath woe? who hath contentions? who falls into pits? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes? | cui vae cuius patri vae cui rixae cui foveae cui sine causa vulnera cui suffusio oculorum |
| 23 | 30 | Surely they that pass their time in wine, and study to drink off their cups. | nonne his qui morantur in vino et student calicibus epotandis |
| 23 | 31 | Look not upon the wine when it is yellow, when the colour thereof shineth in the glass: it goeth in pleasantly, | ne intuearis vinum quando flavescit cum splenduerit in vitro color eius ingreditur blande |
| 23 | 32 | But in the end, it will bite like a snake, and will spread abroad poison like a basilisk. | sed in novissimo mordebit ut coluber et sicut regulus venena diffundet |
| 23 | 33 | Thy eyes shall behold strange women, and thy heart shall utter perverse things. | oculi tui videbunt extraneas et cor tuum loquetur perversa |
| 23 | 34 | And thou shalt be as one sleeping in the midst of the sea, and as a pilot fast asleep when the stern is lost. | et eris sicut dormiens in medio mari et quasi sopitus gubernator amisso clavo |
| 23 | 35 | 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? | et dices verberaverunt me sed non dolui traxerunt me et ego non sensi quando evigilabo et rursum vina repperiam |