Proverbs - Chapter 23 | New King James Version

  • 1. When you sit down to eat with a ruler, Consider carefully what is before you;
  • 2. And put a knife to your throat If you are a man given to appetite.
  • 3. Do not desire his delicacies, For they are deceptive food.
  • 4. Do not overwork to be rich; Because of your own understanding, cease!
  • 5. Will you set your eyes on that which is not? For riches certainly make themselves wings; They fly away like an eagle toward heaven.
  • 6. Do not eat the bread of a miser, {cf2super [49]} Nor desire his delicacies;
  • 7. For as he thinks in his heart, so is he. "Eat and drink!" he says to you, But his heart is not with you.
  • 8. The morsel you have eaten, you will vomit up, And waste your pleasant words.
  • 9. Do not speak in the hearing of a fool, For he will despise the wisdom of your words.
  • 10. Do not remove the ancient landmark, Nor enter the fields of the fatherless;
  • 11. For their Redeemer is mighty; He will plead their cause against you.
  • 12. Apply your heart to instruction, And your ears to words of knowledge.
  • 13. Do not withhold correction from a child, For if you beat him with a rod, he will not die.
  • 14. You shall beat him with a rod, And deliver his soul from hell. {cf2super [50]}
  • 15. My son, if your heart is wise, My heart will rejoice--indeed, I myself;
  • 16. Yes, my inmost being will rejoice When your lips speak right things.
  • 17. Do not let your heart envy sinners, But be zealous for the fear of the Lord all the day;
  • 18. For surely there is a hereafter, And your hope will not be cut off.
  • 19. Hear, my son, and be wise; And guide your heart in the way.
  • 20. Do not mix with winebibbers, Or with gluttonous eaters of meat;
  • 21. For the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty, And drowsiness will clothe a man with rags.
  • 22. Listen to your father who begot you, And do not despise your mother when she is old.
  • 23. Buy the truth, and do not sell it, Also wisdom and instruction and understanding.
  • 24. The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice, And he who begets a wise child will delight in him.
  • 25. Let your father and your mother be glad, And let her who bore you rejoice.
  • 26. My son, give me your heart, And let your eyes observe my ways.
  • 27. For a harlot is a deep pit, And a seductress is a narrow well.
  • 28. She also lies in wait as for a victim, And increases the unfaithful among men.
  • 29. Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has complaints? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes?
  • 30. Those who linger long at the wine, Those who go in search of mixed wine.
  • 31. Do not look on the wine when it is red, When it sparkles in the cup, When it swirls around smoothly;
  • 32. At the last it bites like a serpent, And stings like a viper.
  • 33. Your eyes will see strange things, And your heart will utter perverse things.
  • 34. Yes, you will be like one who lies down in the midst of the sea, Or like one who lies at the top of the mast, saying:
  • 35. "They have struck me, but I was not hurt; They have beaten me, but I did not feel it. When shall I awake, that I may seek another drink?"
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