Bible in Basic English
Get for yourself that which is true, and do not let it go for money; get wisdom and teaching and good sense.
The father of the upright man will be glad, and he who has a wise child will have joy because of him.
Let your father and your mother be glad, let her who gave you birth have joy.
My son, give me your heart, and let your eyes take delight in my ways.
For a loose woman is a deep hollow, and a strange woman is a narrow water-hole.
Yes, she is waiting secretly like a beast for its food, and deceit by her is increased among men.
Who says, Oh! who says, Ah! who has violent arguments, who has grief, who has wounds without cause, whose eyes are dark?
Those who are seated late over the wine: those who go looking for mixed wine.
Keep your eyes from looking on the wine when it is red, when its colour is bright in the cup, when it goes smoothly down:
In the end, its bite is like that of a snake, its wound like the wound of a poison-snake.
Your eyes will see strange things, and you will say twisted things.
Yes, you will be like him who takes his rest on the sea, or on the top of a sail-support.
They have overcome me, you will say, and I have no pain; they gave me blows without my feeling them: when will I be awake from my wine? I will go after it again.
— Proverbs 23:23-1964, Bible in Basic English
“Buy the truth, and sell it not; Yea, wisdom, and instruction, and understanding. The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice; And he that begetteth a wise child will have joy of him. Let thy father and thy mother be glad, And let her that bare thee rejoice. My son, give me thy heart; And let thine eyes delight in my ways. For a harlot is a deep ditch; And a foreign woman is a narrow pit. Yea, she lieth in wait as a robber, And increaseth the treacherous among men. Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? Who hath complaining? who hath wounds without cause? Who hath redness of eyes? They that tarry long at the wine; They that go to seek out mixed wine. Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, When it sparkleth in the cup, When it goeth down smoothly: At the last it biteth like a serpent, And stingeth like an adder. Thine eyes shall behold strange things, And thy heart shall utter perverse things. 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. They have stricken me, shalt thou say, and I was not hurt; They have beaten me, and I felt it not: When shall I awake? I will seek it yet again. ”
Do not be among those who give themselves to wine-drinking, or among those who make themselves full with meat:
For those who take delight in drink and feasting will come to be in need; and through love of sleep a man will be poorly clothed.
Give ear to your father whose child you are, and do not keep honour from your mother when she is old.
Get for yourself that which is true, and do not let it go for money; get wisdom and teaching and good sense.
The father of the upright man will be glad, and he who has a wise child will have joy because of him.
Let your father and your mother be glad, let her who gave you birth have joy.
My son, give me your heart, and let your eyes take delight in my ways.
For a loose woman is a deep hollow, and a strange woman is a narrow water-hole.
Yes, she is waiting secretly like a beast for its food, and deceit by her is increased among men.
Who says, Oh! who says, Ah! who has violent arguments, who has grief, who has wounds without cause, whose eyes are dark?
Those who are seated late over the wine: those who go looking for mixed wine.
Keep your eyes from looking on the wine when it is red, when its colour is bright in the cup, when it goes smoothly down:
In the end, its bite is like that of a snake, its wound like the wound of a poison-snake.
Your eyes will see strange things, and you will say twisted things.
Yes, you will be like him who takes his rest on the sea, or on the top of a sail-support.
They have overcome me, you will say, and I have no pain; they gave me blows without my feeling them: when will I be awake from my wine? I will go after it again.