Proverbs 23

¹When you sit down to eat with a ruler,

observe carefully what is before you,

²and put a knife to your throat

if you have a big appetite.

³Do not desire the ruler’s delicacies,

for they are deceptive food.

⁴Do not wear yourself out to get rich;

be wise enough to desist.

⁵When your eyes light upon it, it is gone;

for suddenly it takes wings to itself,

flying like an eagle toward heaven.

⁶Do not eat the bread of the stingy;

do not desire their delicacies;

⁷for like a hair in the throat, so are they.

“Eat and drink!” they say to you;

but they do not mean it.

⁸You will vomit up the little you have eaten,

and you will waste your pleasant words.

⁹Do not speak in the hearing of a fool,

who will only despise the wisdom of your words.

¹⁰Do not remove an ancient landmark

or encroach on the fields of orphans,

¹¹for their redeemer is strong;

he will plead their cause against you.

¹²Apply your mind to instruction

and your ear to words of knowledge.

¹³Do not withhold discipline from your children;

if you beat them with a rod, they will not die.

¹⁴If you beat them with the rod,

you will save their lives from Sheol.

¹⁵My child, if your heart is wise,

my heart too will be glad.

¹⁶My soul will rejoice

when your lips speak what is right.

¹⁷Do not let your heart envy sinners,

but always continue in the fear of the Lord.

¹⁸Surely there is a future,

and your hope will not be cut off.

¹⁹Hear, my child, and be wise,

and direct your mind in the way.

²⁰Do not be among winebibbers,

or among gluttonous eaters of meat;

²¹for the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty,

and drowsiness will clothe them with rags.

²²Listen to your father who begot you,

and do not despise your mother when she is old.

²³Buy truth, and do not sell it;

buy wisdom, instruction, and understanding.

²⁴The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice;

he who begets a wise son will be glad in him.

²⁵Let your father and mother be glad;

let her who bore you rejoice.

²⁶My child, give me your heart,

and let your eyes observe my ways.

²⁷For a prostitute is a deep pit;

an adulteress is a narrow well.

²⁸She lies in wait like a robber

and increases the number of the faithless.

²⁹Who has woe? Who has sorrow?

Who has strife? Who has complaining?

Who has wounds without cause?

Who has redness of eyes?

³⁰Those who linger late over wine,

those who keep trying mixed wines.

³¹Do not look at wine when it is red,

when it sparkles in the cup

and goes down smoothly.

³²At the last it bites like a serpent,

and stings like an adder.

³³Your eyes will see strange things,

and your mind utter perverse things.

³⁴You 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 will seek another drink.”