Proverbs - Chapter 23 | American Standard Version

  • 1. When thou sittest to eat with a ruler, Consider diligently him that 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; Seeing they are deceitful food.
  • 4. Weary not thyself to be rich; Cease from thine own wisdom.
  • 5. Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not? For {cf15i riches} certainly make themselves wings, Like an eagle that flieth toward heaven.
  • 6. Eat thou not the bread of him that hath an evil eye, Neither desire thou his dainties:
  • 7. For as he thinketh within himself, 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 hearing of a fool; For he will despise the wisdom of thy words.
  • 10. Remove not the ancient landmark; And enter not into the fields of the fatherless:
  • 11. For their Redeemer is strong; He will plead their cause against thee.
  • 12. Apply thy heart unto instruction, And thine ears to the words of knowledge.
  • 13. Withhold not correction from the child; {cf15i For} if thou beat him with the rod, he will not die.
  • 14. Thou shalt beat him with the rod, And shalt deliver his soul from Sheol.
  • 15. My son, if thy heart be wise, My heart will be glad, even mine:
  • 16. Yea, my heart will rejoice, When thy lips speak right things.
  • 17. Let not thy heart envy sinners; But {cf15i be thou} in the fear of Jehovah all the day long:
  • 18. For surely there is a reward; And thy hope shall not be cut off.
  • 19. Hear thou, my son, and be wise, And guide thy heart in the way.
  • 20. Be not among winebibbers, Among gluttonous eaters of flesh:
  • 21. For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty; And drowsiness will clothe {cf15i 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; {cf15i Yea}, wisdom, and instruction, and understanding.
  • 24. The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice; And he that begetteth a wise child will have joy of him.
  • 25. Let thy father and thy mother be glad, And let her that bare thee rejoice.
  • 26. My son, give me thy heart; And let thine eyes delight in my ways.
  • 27. For a harlot is a deep ditch; And a foreign woman is a narrow pit.
  • 28. Yea, she lieth in wait as a robber, And increaseth the treacherous among men.
  • 29. Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? Who hath complaining? who hath wounds without cause? Who hath redness of eyes?
  • 30. They that tarry long at the wine; They that go to seek out mixed wine.
  • 31. Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, When it sparkleth in the cup, When it goeth down smoothly:
  • 32. At the last it biteth like a serpent, And stingeth like an adder.
  • 33. Thine eyes shall behold strange things, And thy 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, {cf15i 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.
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