Proverbs - Chapter 23 | English Standard Version

  • 1. When you sit down to eat with a ruler, observe carefully what is before you,
  • 2. and put a knife to your throat if you are given to appetite.
  • 3. Do not desire his delicacies, for they are deceptive food.
  • 4. Do not toil to acquire wealth; be discerning enough to desist.
  • 5. When your eyes light on it, it is gone, for suddenly it sprouts wings, flying like an eagle toward heaven.
  • 6. Do not eat the bread of a man who is stingy; do not desire his delicacies,
  • 7. for he is like one who is inwardly calculating. "Eat and drink!" he says to you, but his heart is not with you.
  • 8. You will vomit up the morsels that you have eaten, and waste your pleasant words.
  • 9. Do not speak in the hearing of a fool, for he will despise the good sense of your words.
  • 10. Do not move an ancient landmark or enter the fields of the fatherless,
  • 11. for their Redeemer is strong; he will plead their cause against you.
  • 12. Apply your heart to instruction and your ear to words of knowledge.
  • 13. Do not withhold discipline from a child; if you strike him with a rod, he will not die.
  • 14. If you strike him with the rod, you will save his soul from Sheol.
  • 15. My son, if your heart is wise, my heart too will be glad.
  • 16. My inmost being will exult when your lips speak what is right.
  • 17. Let not your heart envy sinners, but continue in the fear of the LORD all the day.
  • 18. Surely there is a future, and your hope will not be cut off.
  • 19. Hear, my son, and be wise, and direct your heart in the way.
  • 20. Be not among drunkards or among gluttonous eaters of meat,
  • 21. for the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty, and slumber will clothe them with rags.
  • 22. Listen to your father who gave you life, and do not despise your mother when she is old.
  • 23. Buy truth, and do not sell it; buy wisdom, instruction, and understanding.
  • 24. The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice; he who fathers a wise son will be glad in him.
  • 25. Let your father and mother be glad; let her who bore you rejoice.
  • 26. My son, give me your heart, and let your eyes observe my ways.
  • 27. For a prostitute is a deep pit; an adulteress is a narrow well.
  • 28. She lies in wait like a robber and increases the traitors among mankind.
  • 29. Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has strife? Who has complaining? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes?
  • 30. Those who tarry long over wine; those who go to try mixed wine.
  • 31. Do not look at wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup and goes down smoothly.
  • 32. In the end it bites like a serpent and stings like an adder.
  • 33. Your eyes will see strange things, and your heart utter perverse things.
  • 34. You will be like one who lies down in the midst of the sea, like one who lies on the top of a mast.
  • 35. "They struck me," you will say, "but I was not hurt; they beat me, but I did not feel it. When shall I awake? I must have another drink."
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