Bible translators are forced to choose between three completely different ways of rendering the first part of Proverbs 23:7. It can be seen as referring to:

1. A Mental Process ( and then the issue becomes what type of mental process)

2. A Hair

3. A Soothsayer/Diviner

These three are so staggeringly different that you will probably want an explanation. One is provided at the end of this page, but for now let’s look at the English Versions, divided into the three categories.

1. A Mental Process

English Standard Version

for he is like one who is inwardly calculating. “Eat and drink!” he says to you, but his heart is not with you . . .

Holman Christian Standard Bible

for it's like someone calculating inwardly. “Eat and drink,” he says to you, but his heart is not with you. . . .

New English Translation

for he is like someone calculating the cost in his mind. “Eat and drink,” he says to you, but his heart is not with you . . .

GOD’S WORD^® Translation

As he calculates the cost to himself, this is what he does: He tells you, “Eat and drink,” but he doesn't really mean it. . . .

New Living Translation

They are always thinking about how much it costs. “Eat and drink,” they say, but they don't mean it. . . .

World English Bible

for as he thinks about the cost, so he is. “Eat and drink!” he says to you, but his heart is not with you. . . .

Expanded Bible

Selfish people are always worrying about how much the food costs

Complete Jewish Bible

For he is like someone who keeps accounts . . .

International Children’s Bible

A selfish person is always worrying about how much the food costs. . . .

The Message

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. . . .

Names of God Bible

As he calculates the cost to himself, this is what he does:  . . .

New International Reader's Version

He is the kind of person who is always thinking about how much it costs. . . .

The Voice

For deep down he’s keeping track of the cost. . . .

Contemporary English Version

People like that take note of how much you eat. . . .

2. A Hair

Originally, the Hebrew text was written without vowels. Vowels were added many centuries later. The Hebrew word for think and for hair have identical consonants, and the translators of the Septuagint (the Greek version often quoted in the New Testament) believed that the word was referring not to thought but to a hair.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English

For just as a man swallows a bristle hair, so you eat and drink with him and his mind is not with you. . . .

New Revised Standard Version

for like a hair in the throat, so are they . . .

Common English Bible

because they are like a hair in the throat.  . . .

Lexham English Bible

For, like hair in his throat, so it is. . . .

William McKane (Proverbs, Old Testament Library, page 246)

for he is like a hair in the throat. . . .

3. A Soothsayer/Diviner

Douay-Rheims Bible

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. . . .

Wycliffe Bible

for at the likeness of a false diviner, and of a conjecturer, that is, (an) expounder of dreams, he guesseth that, that he knoweth not. . . .

Why Do The Three Categories Differ So Wildly?

In modern Israel, vowels are almost always omitted from written Hebrew, as the context is sufficient to give the meaning for people familiar with Hebrew. Very many scholars believe this practice was also employed by those who originally penned the Old Testament, and that vowels were added (by a system of tiny marks on the consonants) much later for the sake of those who were losing familiarity with Hebrew. In fact, most of them believe the adding of vowels occurred long after the writing of the New Testament by Jews (who, incidentally, had knowingly rejected Christ).

Depending on what vowels are added to the consonants, the word translated thinketh in the King James Version can either mean a particular type of mental process or a hair.

The Septuagint (often referred to in theological books as LXX) is a translation of the Hebrew Old Testament into Greek. It is so ancient that it was completed before Christ and it seems to have strongly influenced the New Testament’s quotations of the Old Testament. The Septuagint opts for the rendering “hair” and, as shown in Category 2 above, a number of Bible versions agree with it in this particular instance.

The third category of translations is those who, for this particular verse, follow the rendering in the Vulgate. This is a late fourth century AD Latin translation of the Bible that by the sixteenth century was highly revered by the Roman Catholic Church. Even early Protestant scholars had high respect for it and it significantly influenced many parts of the King James Version.

Perhaps I should mention an often overlooked pressure influencing English Bible translations. For English readers, the King James Version has been so highly influential that subsequent translators are typically reluctant to diverge from it without sound reason. Though they feel free to use modern language they are biased to follow the meaning of the King James Version, lest their choice reduce sales because the new translation undermines people’s favorite (but possibly mistaken) interpretations gained from a reliance on the King James Version.

Regardless of this controversy, however, did you carefully read the versions that opt for it referring to a mental process? They believe it refers not to general thinking but to calculating the cost of the food being consumed.

P.S.

The Living Bible is actually in a category of its own:

Their kindness is a trick; they want to use you as their pawn. . . .