Proverbs Chapter 23 Back Next{23:1} When you sit to eat with a ruler, consider diligently what is before you;
{23:2} put a knife to your throat, if you are a man given to appetite.
{23:3} Don't be desirous of his dainties, since they are deceitful food.
{23:4} Don't weary yourself to be rich. In your wisdom, show restraint.
{23:5} Why do you set your eyes on that which is not? For it certainly sprouts wings like an
eagle and flies in the sky.
{23:6} Don't eat the food of him who has a stingy eye, and don't crave his delicacies:
{23:7} for as he thinks about the cost, so he is. "Eat and
drink!" he says to you, but his
heart is not with you.
{23:8} The morsel which you have eaten you shall vomit up, and lose your good words.
{23:9} Don't speak in the ears of a fool, for he will despise the wisdom of your words.
{23:10} Don't move the ancient boundary stone. Don't encroach on the
fields of the fatherless:
{23:11} for their Defender is strong. He will plead their case against you.
{23:12} Apply your heart to instruction, and your ears to the words of knowledge.
{23:13} Don't withhold correction from a child. If you punish him with the rod, he will not die.
{23:14} Punish him with the rod, and save his soul from
Sheol.
{23:15} My son, if your heart is wise, then my heart will be glad, even mine:
{23:16} yes, my heart will rejoice, when your lips speak what is right.
{23:17} Don't let your heart envy sinners; but rather fear Yahweh all the day long.
{23:18} Indeed surely there is a future
hope, and your hope will not be cut off.
{23:19} Listen, my son, and be wise, and keep your heart on the right path!
{23:20} Don't be among ones drinking too much wine, or those who gorge themselves on meat:
{23:21} for the
drunkard and the
glutton shall become poor; and drowsiness clothes them in rags.
{23:22} Listen to your
father who gave you life, and don't despise your mother when she is old.
{23:23} Buy the truth, and don't sell it. Get wisdom, discipline, and understanding.
{23:24} The father of the righteous has great joy. Whoever fathers a wise child delights in him.
{23:25} Let your father and your mother be glad! Let her who bore you rejoice!
{23:26} My son, give me your heart; and let your eyes keep in my ways.
{23:27} For a prostitute is a deep pit; and a wayward wife is a narrow well.
{23:28} Yes, she lies in wait like a robber, and increases the un
faithful among men.
{23:29} Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has strife? Who has complaints? Who has needless bruises? Who has bloodshot eyes?
{23:30} Those who stay long at the wine; those who go to seek out mixed wine.
{23:31} Don't look at the wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the
cup, when it goes down smoothly.
{23:32} In the end, it bites like a snake, and poisons like a viper.
{23:33} Your eyes will see strange things, and your mind will imagine confusing things.
{23:34} Yes, you will be as he who lies down in the midst of the sea, or as he who lies on top of the rigging:
{23:35} "They hit me, and I was not hurt! They beat me, and I don't feel it! When will I wake up? I can do it again. I can find another."
Proverbs Chapter 23 Back Next