Proverbs 23
23
1If you sit down to eat with a ruler,
notice the food that is in front of you.
2Control yourself
if you have a big appetite.
3Don’t be greedy for his fine foods,
because that food might be a trick.
4Don’t wear yourself out trying to get rich;
be wise enough to control yourself.
5Wealth can vanish in the wink of an eye.
It can seem to grow wings
and fly away like an eagle.
6Don’t eat the food of selfish people;
don’t be greedy for their fine foods.
7Selfish people are always worrying
about how much the food costs.
They tell you, “Eat and drink,”
but they don’t really mean it.
8You will throw up the little you have eaten,
and you will have wasted your kind words.
9Don’t speak to fools;
they will only ignore your wise words.
10Don’t move an old stone that marks a border,
and don’t take fields that belong to orphans.
11God, their defender, is strong;
he will take their side against you.
12Remember what you are taught,
and listen carefully to words of knowledge.
13Don’t fail to punish children.
If you spank them, they won’t die.
14If you spank them,
you will save them from death.
15My child, if you are wise,
then I will be happy.
16I will be so pleased
if you speak what is right.
17Don’t envy sinners,
but always respect the Lord.
18Then you will have hope for the future,
and your wishes will come true.
19Listen, my child, and be wise.
Keep your mind on what is right.
20Don’t drink too much wine
or eat too much food.
21Those who drink and eat too much become poor.
They sleep too much and end up wearing rags.
22Listen to your father, who gave you life,
and do not forget your mother when she is old.
23Learn the truth and never reject it.
Get wisdom, self-control, and understanding.
24The father of a good child is very happy;
parents who have wise children are glad because of them.
25Make your father and mother happy;
give your mother a reason to be glad.
26My son, pay attention to me,
and watch closely what I do.
27A prostitute is as dangerous as a deep pit,
and an unfaithful wife is like a narrow well.
28They ambush you like robbers
and cause many men to be unfaithful to their wives.
29Who has trouble? Who has pain?
Who fights? Who complains?
Who has unnecessary bruises?
Who has bloodshot eyes?
30It is people who drink too much wine,
who try out all different kinds of strong drinks.
31Don’t stare at the wine when it is red,
when it sparkles in the cup,
when it goes down smoothly.
32Later it bites like a snake
with poison in its fangs.
33Your eyes will see strange sights,
and your mind will be confused.
34You will feel dizzy as if you’re in a storm on the ocean,
as if you’re on top of a ship’s sails.
35You will think, “They hit me, but I’m not hurt.
They beat me up, but I don’t remember it.
I wish I could wake up.
Then I would get another drink.”
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Proverbs 23: NCV
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The Holy Bible, New Century Version, Copyright © 2005 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.
Proverbs 23
23
1 WHEN YOU sit down to eat with a ruler, consider who and what are before you;
2 For you will put a knife to your throat if you are a man given to desire.
3 Be not desirous of his dainties, for it is deceitful food [offered with questionable motives].
4 Weary not yourself to be rich; cease from your own [human] wisdom. [Prov. 28:20; I Tim. 6:9, 10.]
5 Will you set your eyes upon wealth, when [suddenly] it is gone? For riches certainly make themselves wings, like an eagle that flies toward the heavens.
6 Eat not the bread of him who has a hard, grudging, and envious eye, neither desire his dainty foods;
7 For as he thinks in his heart, so is he. As one who reckons, he says to you, eat and drink, yet his heart is not with you [but is grudging the cost].
8 The morsel which you have eaten you will vomit up, and your complimentary words will be wasted.
9 Speak not in the ears of a [self-confident] fool, for he will despise the [godly] Wisdom of your words. [Isa. 32:6.]
10 Remove not the ancient landmark and enter not into the fields of the fatherless, [Deut. 19:14; 27:17; Prov. 22:28.]
11 For their Redeemer is mighty; He will plead their cause against you.
12 Apply your mind to instruction and correction and your ears to words of knowledge.
13 Withhold not discipline from the child; for if you strike and punish him with the [reedlike] rod, he will not die.
14 You shall whip him with the rod and deliver his life from Sheol (Hades, the place of the dead).
15 My son, if your heart is wise, my heart will be glad, even mine;
16 Yes, my heart will rejoice when your lips speak right things.
17 Let not your heart envy sinners, but continue in the reverent and worshipful fear of the Lord all the day long.
18 For surely there is a latter end [a future and a reward], and your hope and expectation shall not be cut off.
19 Hear, my son, and be wise, and direct your mind in the way [of the Lord].
20 Do not associate with winebibbers; be not among them nor among gluttonous eaters of meat, [Isa. 5:22; Luke 21:34; Rom. 13:13; Eph. 5:18.]
21 For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty, and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags.
22 Hearken to your father, who begot you, and despise not your mother when she is old.
23 Buy the truth and sell it not; not only that, but also get discernment and judgment, instruction and understanding.
24 The father of the [uncompromisingly] righteous (the upright, in right standing with God) shall greatly rejoice, and he who becomes the father of a wise child shall have joy in him.
25 Let your father and your mother be glad, and let her who bore you rejoice.
26 My son, give me your heart and let your eyes observe and delight in my ways,
27 For a harlot is a deep ditch, and a loose woman is a narrow pit.
28 She also lies in wait as a robber or as one waits for prey, and she increases the treacherous among men.
29 Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has strife? Who has complaining? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness and dimness of eyes?
30 Those who tarry long at the wine, those who go to seek and try mixed wine. [Prov. 20:1; Eph. 5:18.]
31 Do not look at wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the wineglass, when it goes down smoothly.
32 At the last it bites like a serpent and stings like an adder.
33 [Under the influence of wine] your eyes will behold strange things [and loose women] and your mind will utter things turned the wrong way [untrue, incorrect, and petulant].
34 Yes, you will be [as unsteady] as he who lies down in the midst of the sea, and [as open to disaster] as he who lies upon the top of a mast.
35 You will say, They struck me, but I was not hurt! They beat me [as with a hammer], but I did not feel it! When shall I awake? I will crave and seek more wine again [and escape reality].
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1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation