Proverbs 23

1 When you sit down to dine with a ruler, consider carefully what is set before you,

2 and put a knife to your throat if you possess a great appetite.

3 Do not crave his delicacies, for that food is deceptive.

4 Do not wear yourself out to get rich; be wise enough to restrain yourself.

5 When you glance at wealth, it disappears, for it makes wings for itself and flies like an eagle to the sky.

6 Do not eat the bread of a stingy man, and do not crave his delicacies;

7 for he is keeping track, inwardly counting the cost. “Eat and drink,” he says to you, but his heart is not with you.

8 You will vomit up what little you have eaten and waste your pleasant words.

9 Do not speak to a fool, for he will despise the wisdom of your words.

10 Do not move an ancient boundary stone or encroach on the fields of the fatherless,

11 for their Redeemer is strong; He will take up their case against you.

12 Apply your heart to instruction and your ears to words of knowledge.

13 Do not withhold discipline from a child; although you strike him with a rod, he will not die.

14 Strike him with a rod, and you will deliver his soul from Sheol.

15 My son, if your heart is wise, my own heart will indeed rejoice.

16 My inmost being will rejoice when your lips speak what is right.

17 Do not let your heart envy sinners, but always continue in the fear of the LORD.

18 For surely there is a future, and your hope will not be cut off.

19 Listen, my son, and be wise, and guide your heart on the right course.

20 Do not join those who drink too much wine or gorge themselves on meat.

21 For the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty, and drowsiness will clothe them in rags.

22 Listen to your father who gave you life, and do not despise your mother when she is old.

23 Invest in truth and never sell it—in wisdom and instruction and understanding.

24 The father of a righteous man will greatly rejoice, and he who fathers a wise son will delight in him.

25 May your father and mother be glad, and may she who gave you birth rejoice!

26 My son, give me your heart, and let your eyes delight in my ways.

27 For a prostitute is a deep pit, and an adulteress is a narrow well.

28 Like a robber she lies in wait and multiplies the faithless among men.

29 Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has complaints? Who has needless wounds? Who has bloodshot eyes?

30 Those who linger over wine, who go to taste mixed drinks.

31 Do not gaze at wine while it is red, when it sparkles in the cup and goes down smoothly.

32 In the end it bites like a snake and stings like a viper.

33 Your eyes will see strange things, and your mind will utter perversities.

34 You will be like one sleeping on the high seas or lying on the top of a mast:

35 “They struck me, but I feel no pain! They beat me, but I did not know it! When can I wake up to search for another drink?”

1 ¶ When thou sittest to eat with a ruler, consider diligently what [is] before thee:

2 And put a knife to thy throat, if thou [be] a man given to appetite.

3 Be not desirous of his dainties: for they [are] deceitful meat.

4 ¶ Labour not to be rich: cease from thine own wisdom.

5 Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not? for [riches] certainly make themselves wings; they fly away as an eagle toward heaven.

6 ¶ Eat thou not the bread of [him that hath] an evil eye, neither desire thou his dainty meats:

7 For as he thinketh in his heart, so [is] he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart [is] not with thee.

8 The morsel [which] thou hast eaten shalt thou vomit up, and lose thy sweet words.

9 ¶ Speak not in the ears of a fool: for he will despise the wisdom of thy words.

10 ¶ Remove not the old landmark; and enter not into the fields of the fatherless:

11 For their redeemer [is] mighty; he shall plead their cause with thee.

12 ¶ Apply thine heart unto instruction, and thine ears to the words of knowledge.

13 Withhold not correction from the child: for [if] thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die.

14 Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell.

15 My son, if thine heart be wise, my heart shall rejoice, even mine.

16 Yea, my reins shall rejoice, when thy lips speak right things.

17 ¶ Let not thine heart envy sinners: but [be thou] in the fear of the LORD all the day long.

18 For surely there is an end; and thine expectation shall not be cut off.

19 ¶ Hear thou, my son, and be wise, and guide thine heart in the way.

20 Be not among winebibbers; among riotous eaters of flesh:

21 For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty: and drowsiness shall clothe [a man] with rags.

22 Hearken unto thy father that begat thee, and despise not thy mother when she is old.

23 Buy the truth, and sell [it] not; [also] wisdom, and instruction, and understanding.

24 The father of the righteous shall greatly rejoice: and he that begetteth a wise [child] shall have joy of him.

25 Thy father and thy mother shall be glad, and she that bare thee shall rejoice.

26 My son, give me thine heart, and let thine eyes observe my ways.

27 For a whore [is] a deep ditch; and a strange woman [is] a narrow pit.

28 She also lieth in wait as [for] a prey, and increaseth the transgressors among men.

29 ¶ Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who hath babbling? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes?

30 They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine.

31 Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, [when] it moveth itself aright.

32 At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder.

33 Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thine heart shall utter perverse things.

34 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.

35 They have stricken me, [shalt thou say, and] I was not sick; they have beaten me, [and] I felt [it] not: when shall I awake? I will seek it yet again.

1 When thou sittest and eatest with a lord, mark whom thou hast before thee,

2 And put a knife to thy throat, if thou wilt keep life.

3 desire not his food, for it is false bread.

4 Seek not to be rich, and leave off thy little bundles.

5 Let not thine eyes fly unto that which thou canst not have: for the same maketh him wings like an eagle, and biddeth for the heavens.

6 Eat not bread with an envious man, neither desire thou his meat.

7 For he is like a ghost within. He saith, Eat and drink; and yet his heart is not in thee.

8 Thy morsels which thou hast eaten thou must spit out, and must have lost thy kind words.

9 Not in the ears of a fool, for he despiseth the wisdom of thy words.

10 Drive not back the former borders, and go not into the orphans' field.

11 For their Redeemer is mighty; he shall accomplish their cause against thee.

12 Give thine heart to discipline, and thine ears to reasonable speech.

13 Cease not to chasten the lad: for where thou chastenest him with the rod, it is not lawful to kill him.

14 Thou smitest him with the rod; but thou savest his soul from hell.

15 My son, if thou be wise, my heart also rejoiceth;

16 And my kidneys are glad when thy lips speak what is right.

17 Let not thine heart follow sinners, but be thou daily in the fear of the LORD.

18 For it shall be well with thee hereafter, and thy waiting shall not fail.

19 Hear, my son, and be wise, and direct thine heart into the way.

20 Be not among drunkards and gluttons;

21 For the drunkard and the glutton are made poor, and a sleeper must wear torn garments.

22 Obey thy father which begat thee, and despise not thy mother when she is old.

23 Buy truth and do not sell it, wisdom, discipline and understanding.

24 A father of the righteous rejoiceth, and he that hath begotten a wise man rejoiceth.

25 Let thy father and thy mother rejoice and be glad, which begat thee.

26 Give me, my son, thy heart, and let thine eyes be well pleased with my ways.

27 For a harlot is a deep pit, and an adulteress is a narrow pit.

28 She also lieth in wait like a robber, and gathereth unto her the insolent of men.

29 where is woe? Where is sorrow? Where is strife? Where is lamentation? Where are wounds without cause? Where are red eyes?

30 namely, where one lies with the wine and comes to drink up what is poured.

31 Look not on the wine, because it is red, and standeth so fair in the glass. It is smooth;

32 But afterward he bites like a serpent, and stings like an adder.

33 Then thine eyes shall look for other consecrations, and thine heart shall speak perverse things,

34 And thou shalt be as one that sleepeth in the midst of the sea, and as one that sleepeth upon the top of the mast.

35 They beat me, but it hurt me not: they knock me, but I feel it not. When will I wake up, that I may do it more?