Proverbs 23

¹When you sit to eat with a ruler,

consider diligently what is before you;

²put a knife to your throat

if you are a man given to appetite.

³Don’t be desirous of his dainties,

since they are deceitful food.

⁴Don’t weary yourself to be rich.

In your wisdom, show restraint.

⁵Why do you set your eyes on that which is not?

For it certainly sprouts wings like an eagle and flies in the sky.

⁶Don’t eat the food of him who has a stingy eye,

and don’t crave his delicacies,

⁷for as he thinks about the cost, so he is.

“Eat and drink!” he says to you,

but his heart is not with you.

⁸You will vomit up the morsel which you have eaten

and waste your pleasant words.

⁹Don’t speak in the ears of a fool,

for he will despise the wisdom of your words.

¹⁰Don’t move the ancient boundary stone.

Don’t encroach on the fields of the fatherless,

¹¹for their Defender is strong.

He will plead their case against you.

¹²Apply your heart to instruction,

and your ears to the words of knowledge.

¹³Don’t withhold correction from a child.

If you punish him with the rod, he will not die.

¹⁴Punish him with the rod,

and save his soul from Sheol.

¹⁵My son, if your heart is wise,

then my heart will be glad, even mine.

¹⁶Yes, my heart will rejoice

when your lips speak what is right.

¹⁷Don’t let your heart envy sinners,

but rather fear the LORD all day long.

¹⁸Indeed surely there is a future hope,

and your hope will not be cut off.

¹⁹Listen, my son, and be wise,

and keep your heart on the right path!

²⁰Don’t be among ones drinking too much wine,

or those who gorge themselves on meat;

²¹for the drunkard and the glutton shall become poor;

and drowsiness clothes them in rags.

²²Listen to your father who gave you life,

and don’t despise your mother when she is old.

²³Buy the truth, and don’t sell it.

Get wisdom, discipline, and understanding.

²⁴The father of the righteous has great joy.

Whoever fathers a wise child delights in him.

²⁵Let your father and your mother be glad!

Let her who bore you rejoice!

²⁶My son, give me your heart;

and let your eyes keep in my ways.

²⁷For a prostitute is a deep pit;

and a wayward wife is a narrow well.

²⁸Yes, she lies in wait like a robber,

and increases the unfaithful among men.

²⁹Who has woe?

Who has sorrow?

Who has strife?

Who has complaints?

Who has needless bruises?

Who has bloodshot eyes?

³⁰Those who stay long at the wine;

those who go to seek out mixed wine.

³¹Don’t look at the wine when it is red,

when it sparkles in the cup,

when it goes down smoothly.

³²In the end, it bites like a snake,

and poisons like a viper.

³³Your eyes will see strange things,

and your mind will imagine confusing things.

³⁴Yes, you will be as he who lies down in the middle of the sea,

or as he who lies on top of the rigging:

³⁵“They hit me, and I was not hurt!

They beat me, and I don’t feel it!

When will I wake up? I can do it again.

I will look for more.”