Proverbs Chapter 23

23 : 1 When thou sit to eat with a ruler, consider diligently him who is before thee,

23 : 2 and put a knife to thy throat if thou be a man given to appetite.

23 : 3 Be not desirous of his dainties, since they are deceitful food.

23 : 4 Weary not thyself to be rich. Out of thine own wisdom, cease.

23 : 5 Will thou set thine eyes upon that which is not? For it certainly makes itself wings, like an eagle that flies toward heaven.

23 : 6 Eat thou not the bread of an evil eye, nor desire thou his dainties.

23 : 7 For as he thinks within himself, so is he. Eat and drink, he says to thee, but his heart is not with thee.

23 : 8 The morsel which thou have eaten thou shall vomit up, and lose thy sweet words.

23 : 9 Speak not in the hearing of a fool, for he will despise the wisdom of thy words.

23 : 10 Remove not the ancient landmark. And enter not into the fields of the fatherless,

23 : 11 for their Redeemer is strong. He will plead their cause against thee.

23 : 12 Apply thy heart to instruction, and thine ears to the words of knowledge.

23 : 13 Withhold not correction from the child, for if thou beat him with the rod, he will not die.

23 : 14 Thou shall beat him with the rod, and shall deliver his soul from Sheol.

23 : 15 My son, if thy heart be wise, my heart will be glad, even mine.

23 : 16 Yea, my heart will rejoice when thy lips speak right things.

23 : 17 Let not thy heart envy sinners, but be thou in the fear of Jehovah all the day long.

23 : 18 For surely there is a reward, and thy hope shall not be cut off.

23 : 19 Hear thou, my son, and be wise, and guide thy heart in the way.

23 : 20 Be not among winebibbers, among gluttonous eaters of flesh.

23 : 21 For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty, and drowsiness will clothe a man with rags.

23 : 22 Hearken to thy father who begot thee, and despise not thy mother when she is old.

23 : 23 Buy the truth, and do not sell it, yea, wisdom, and instruction, and understanding.

23 : 24 The father of a righteous man will greatly rejoice, and he who begets a wise son will have joy of him.

23 : 25 Let thy father and thy mother be glad, and let her who bore thee rejoice.

23 : 26 My son, give me thy heart, and let thine eyes delight in my ways.

23 : 27 For a harlot is a deep ditch, and an interloping woman is a narrow pit.

23 : 28 Yea, she lies in wait as a robber, and increases the treacherous among men.

23 : 29 Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has complaining? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes?

23 : 30 Those who tarry long at the wine. Those who go to seek out mixed wine.

23 : 31 Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup, when it goes down smoothly.

23 : 32 At the end it bites like a serpent, and stings like an adder.

23 : 33 Thine eyes shall behold strange things, and thy heart shall utter perverse things.

23 : 34 Yea, thou shall be as he who lies down in the midst of the sea, or as he who lies upon the top of a mast.

23 : 35 They have stricken me, thou shall say, and I was not hurt. They have beaten me, and I did not feel it. When shall I awake? I will seek it yet again.