Proverbs - Chapter 23 | King James Version (KJV)

  • 1. When thou sittest to eat with a ruler, consider diligently what {cf15I is} before thee:
  • 2. And put a knife to thy throat, if thou {cf15I be} a man given to appetite.
  • 3. Be not desirous of his dainties: for they {cf15I 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 {cf15I riches} certainly make themselves wings; they fly away as an eagle toward heaven.
  • 6. Eat thou not the bread of {cf15I him that hath} an evil eye, neither desire thou his dainty meats:
  • 7. For as he thinketh in his heart, so {cf15I is} he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart {cf15I is} not with thee.
  • 8. The morsel {cf15I 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 {cf15I 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 {cf15I 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 {cf15I 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 {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 {cf15I it} not; {cf15I also} wisdom, and instruction, and understanding.
  • 24. The father of the righteous shall greatly rejoice: and he that begetteth a wise {cf15I 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 {cf15I is} a deep ditch; and a strange woman {cf15I is} a narrow pit.
  • 28. She also lieth in wait as {cf15I 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, {cf15I 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, {cf15I shalt thou say, and} I was not sick; they have beaten me, {cf15I and} I felt {cf15I it} not: when shall I awake? I will seek it yet again.
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