Proverbs 23
1 When you sit down to dine with a ruler, consider carefully what is set before you,
When you take your seat at the feast with a ruler, give thought with care to what is before you;
2 and put a knife to your throat if you possess a great appetite.
And put a knife to your throat, if you have a strong desire for food.
3 Do not crave his delicacies, for that food is deceptive.
Have no desire for his delicate food, for it is the bread of deceit.
4 Do not wear yourself out to get rich; be wise enough to restrain yourself.
Take no care to get wealth; let there be an end to your desire for money.
5 When you glance at wealth, it disappears, for it makes wings for itself and flies like an eagle to the sky.
Are your eyes lifted up to it? it is gone: for wealth takes to itself wings, like an eagle in flight up to heaven.
6 Do not eat the bread of a stingy man, and do not crave his delicacies;
Do not take the food of him who has an evil eye, or have any desire for his delicate meat:
7 for he is keeping track, inwardly counting the cost. “Eat and drink,” he says to you, but his heart is not with you.
For as the thoughts of his heart are, so is he: Take food and drink, he says to you; but his heart is not with you.
8 You will vomit up what little you have eaten and waste your pleasant words.
The food which you have taken will come up again, and your pleasing words will be wasted.
9 Do not speak to a fool, for he will despise the wisdom of your words.
Say nothing in the hearing of a foolish man, for he will put no value on the wisdom of your words.
10 Do not move an ancient boundary stone or encroach on the fields of the fatherless,
Do not let the landmark of the widow be moved, and do not go into the fields of those who have no father;
11 for their Redeemer is strong; He will take up their case against you.
For their saviour is strong, and he will take up their cause against you.
12 Apply your heart to instruction and your ears to words of knowledge.
Give your heart to teaching, and your ears to the words of knowledge.
13 Do not withhold discipline from a child; although you strike him with a rod, he will not die.
Do not keep back training from the child: for even if you give him blows with the rod, it will not be death to him.
Give him blows with the rod, and keep his soul safe from the underworld. (Sheol h7585)
15 My son, if your heart is wise, my own heart will indeed rejoice.
My son, if your heart becomes wise, I, even I, will be glad in heart;
16 My inmost being will rejoice when your lips speak what is right.
And my thoughts in me will be full of joy when your lips say right things.
17 Do not let your heart envy sinners, but always continue in the fear of the LORD.
Have no envy of sinners in your heart, but keep in the fear of the Lord all through the day;
18 For surely there is a future, and your hope will not be cut off.
For without doubt there is a future, and your hope will not be cut off.
19 Listen, my son, and be wise, and guide your heart on the right course.
Give ear, my son, and be wise, guiding your heart in the right way.
20 Do not join those who drink too much wine or gorge themselves on meat.
Do not be among those who give themselves to wine-drinking, or among those who make themselves full with meat:
21 For the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty, and drowsiness will clothe them in rags.
For those who take delight in drink and feasting will come to be in need; and through love of sleep a man will be poorly clothed.
22 Listen to your father who gave you life, and do not despise your mother when she is old.
Give ear to your father whose child you are, and do not keep honour from your mother when she is old.
23 Invest in truth and never sell it— in wisdom and instruction and understanding.
Get for yourself that which is true, and do not let it go for money; get wisdom and teaching and good sense.
24 The father of a righteous man will greatly rejoice, and he who fathers a wise son will delight in him.
The father of the upright man will be glad, and he who has a wise child will have joy because of him.
25 May your father and mother be glad, and may she who gave you birth rejoice!
Let your father and your mother be glad, let her who gave you birth have joy.
26 My son, give me your heart, and let your eyes delight in my ways.
My son, give me your heart, and let your eyes take delight in my ways.
27 For a prostitute is a deep pit, and an adulteress is a narrow well.
For a loose woman is a deep hollow, and a strange woman is a narrow water-hole.
28 Like a robber she lies in wait and multiplies the faithless among men.
Yes, she is waiting secretly like a beast for its food, and deceit by her is increased among men.
29 Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has complaints? Who has needless wounds? Who has bloodshot eyes?
Who says, Oh! who says, Ah! who has violent arguments, who has grief, who has wounds without cause, whose eyes are dark?
30 Those who linger over wine, who go to taste mixed drinks.
Those who are seated late over the wine: those who go looking for mixed wine.
31 Do not gaze at wine while it is red, when it sparkles in the cup and goes down smoothly.
Keep your eyes from looking on the wine when it is red, when its colour is bright in the cup, when it goes smoothly down:
32 In the end it bites like a snake and stings like a viper.
In the end, its bite is like that of a snake, its wound like the wound of a poison-snake.
33 Your eyes will see strange things, and your mind will utter perversities.
Your eyes will see strange things, and you will say twisted things.
34 You will be like one sleeping on the high seas or lying on the top of a mast:
Yes, you will be like him who takes his rest on the sea, or on the top of a sail-support.
35 “They struck me, but I feel no pain! They beat me, but I did not know it! When can I wake up to search for another drink?”
They have overcome me, you will say, and I have no pain; they gave me blows without my feeling them: when will I be awake from my wine? I will go after it again.
