Proverbs 23

¹ When thou sittest to eat with a ruler, consider diligently him that is before thee;

² And put a knife to thy throat, if thou be a man given to appetite.

³ Be not desirous of his dainties; seeing they are deceitful meat.

⁴ Weary not thyself to be rich; cease from thine own wisdom.

⁵ Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not? for riches certainly make themselves wings, like an eagle that flieth toward heaven.

⁶ Eat thou not the bread of him that hath an evil eye, neither desire thou his dainties:

⁷ For as he reckoneth within himself, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee.

⁸ The morsel which thou hast eaten shalt thou vomit up, and lose thy sweet words.

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

¹⁰ Remove not the ancient landmark; and enter not into the fields of the fatherless:

¹¹ For their redeemer is strong; he shall plead their cause against thee.

¹² Apply thine heart unto instruction, and thine ears to the words of knowledge.

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

¹⁴ Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from Sheol.

¹⁵ My son, if thine heart be wise, my heart shall be glad, even mine:

¹⁶ Yea, my reins shall rejoice, when thy lips speak right things.

¹⁷ Let not thine heart envy sinners: but be thou in the fear of the LORD all the day long:

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

¹⁹ Hear thou, my son, and be wise, and guide thine heart in the way.

²⁰ Be not among winebibbers; among gluttonous eaters of flesh:

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

²² Hearken unto thy father that begat thee, and despise not thy mother when she is old.

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

²⁴ The father of the righteous shall greatly rejoice: and he that begetteth a wise child shall have joy of him.

²⁵ Let thy father and thy mother be glad, and let her that bare thee rejoice.

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

²⁷ For a whore is a deep ditch; and a strange woman is a narrow pit.

²⁸ Yea, she lieth in wait as a robber, and increaseth the treacherous among men.

²⁹ Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who hath complaining? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes?

³⁰ They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek out mixed wine.

³¹ Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth its colour in the cup, when it goeth down smoothly.

³² At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder.

³³ Thine eyes shall behold strange things, and thine heart shall utter froward things.

³⁴ Yea, thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea, or as he that lieth upon the top of a mast.

³⁵ They have stricken me, shalt thou say, and I was not hurt; they have beaten me, and I felt it not: when shall I awake? I will seek it yet again.