Proverbs 23

1. When you sit down to eat with a ruler, consider carefully what is before you;

2. And put a knife to your throat, if you are a man given to appetite.

3. Do not desire his delicacies, for they are the bread of lies.

4. Do not weary yourself to be rich; cease from your own wisdom.

5. When your eyes look upon it, it is gone! For surely riches make wings for themselves, and they fly into heaven like an eagle.

6. Do not eat the bread of him who has an evil eye, nor desire his dainty foods;

7. For as he thinks in his heart, so is he; “Eat and drink,” he says to you, but his heart is not with you.

8. The morsel which you have eaten, you shall vomit up, and spoil your pleasant words.

9. Do not speak in the ears of a fool, for he will despise the wisdom of your words.

10. Do not remove the old landmarks, and do not enter into the fields of the fatherless;

11. For their Redeemer is mighty; He shall plead their cause with you.

12. Apply your heart to instruction and your ears to the words of knowledge.

13. Do not withhold correction from a child, for if you beat him with the rod, he will not die.

14. You shall beat him with the rod, and shall deliver his soul from the grave.

15. My son, if your heart is wise, my heart shall rejoice, even mine.

16. Yea, my heart shall rejoice when your lips speak right things.

17. Do not let your heart envy sinners, but be in the fear of the LORD all the day long;

18. For surely there is a hereafter, and your hope shall not be cut off.

19. My son, hear and be wise, and guide your heart in the way.

20. Do not be among those who drink much wine, among gluttons of flesh,

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

22. Hearken to your father who begat you, and do not despise your mother when she is old.

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

24. The father of the righteous shall greatly rejoice, and he who begets a wise child shall have joy from him.

25. Your father and your mother shall be glad, and she who bore you shall rejoice.

26. My son, give me your heart, and let your eyes observe my ways,

27. For a harlot is a deep ditch, and a wanton woman is a narrow pit.

28. She also lies in wait as for prey and increases the transgressors among men.

29. Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has fighting? Who has babbling? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes?

30. Those who stay long at the wine, those who go to seek mixed wine.

31. Do not look upon the wine when it is red, when it gives its color in the cup, when it goes down smoothly;

32. In the end it bites like an asp and stings like an adder.

33. Your eyes shall look upon strange things and your heart shall speak perverse things.

34. Yea, you shall be as one who lies down in the middle of the sea, or as one who lies upon the top of a mast,

35. Saying, “They struck me; I was not hurt; they beat me, but I did not feel it. When I awaken, I will seek it yet again.”