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. ⁸The morsel which you have eaten you shall vomit up, and lose your good 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 Yahweh 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 can find another.”

World English Bible (public domain)