Proverbs 23
23
1When you sit down to eat with a ruler,
observe carefully what#23.1 Or who is before you;
2and put a knife to your throat
if you are a man given to appetite.
3Do not desire his delicacies,
for they are deceptive food.
4Do not toil to acquire wealth;
be wise enough to desist.
5When your eyes light upon it, it is gone;
for suddenly it takes to itself wings,
flying like an eagle toward heaven.
6Do not eat the bread of a man who is stingy;
do not desire his delicacies;
7for he is like one who is inwardly reckoning.#23.7 Heb obscure
“Eat and drink!” he says to you;
but his heart is not with you.
8You will vomit up the morsels which you have eaten,
and waste your pleasant words.
9Do not speak in the hearing of a fool,
for he will despise the wisdom of your words.
10Do not remove an ancient landmark
or enter the fields of the fatherless;
11for their Redeemer is strong;
he will plead their cause against you.
12Apply your mind to instruction
and your ear to words of knowledge.
13Do not withhold discipline from a child;
if you beat him with a rod, he will not die.
14If you beat him with the rod
you will save his life from Sheol.
15My son, if your heart is wise,
my heart too will be glad.
16My soul will rejoice
when your lips speak what is right.
17Let not your heart envy sinners,
but continue in the fear of the Lord all the day.
18Surely there is a future,
and your hope will not be cut off.
19Hear, my son, and be wise,
and direct your mind in the way.
20Be not among winebibbers,
or among gluttonous eaters of meat;
21for the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty,
and drowsiness will clothe a man with rags.
22Hearken to your father who begot you,
and do not despise your mother when she is old.
23Buy truth, and do not sell it;
buy wisdom, instruction, and understanding.
24The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice;
he who begets a wise son will be glad in him.
25Let your father and mother be glad,
let her who bore you rejoice.
26My son, give me your heart,
and let your eyes observe#23.26 Another reading is delight in my ways.
27For a harlot is a deep pit;
an adventuress is a narrow well.
28She lies in wait like a robber
and increases the faithless among men.
29Who has woe? Who has sorrow?
Who has strife? Who has complaining?
Who has wounds without cause?
Who has redness of eyes?
30Those who tarry long over wine,
those who go to try mixed wine.
31Do not look at wine when it is red,
when it sparkles in the cup
and goes down smoothly.
32At the last it bites like a serpent,
and stings like an adder.
33Your eyes will see strange things,
and your mind utter perverse things.
34You will be like one who lies down in the midst of the sea,
like one who lies on the top of a mast.#23.34 Heb obscure
35“They struck me,” you will say,#23.35 Gk Syr Vg Tg: Heb lacks you will say “but I was not hurt;
they beat me, but I did not feel it.
When shall I awake?
I will seek another drink.”
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Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America
Proverbs 23
23
1 When you sit down to eat with a leader, pay close attention to what has been set before your face,
2 and put a knife to your throat, if, in such a way, you could hold your soul in your own power.
3 Do not desire his foods, in which is the bread of deceit.
4 Do not be willing to labor so that you may be enriched. But set limits by your prudence.
5 Do not raise your eyes toward wealth that you are not able to have. For they will make themselves wings, like those of an eagle, and they will fly in the sky.
6 Do not eat with an envious man, and do not desire his foods.
7 For, like a seer and an interpreter of dreams, he presumes what he does not know. "Eat and drink," he will say to you; and his mind is not with you.
8 The foods that you had eaten, you will vomit up. And you will lose the beauty in your words.
9 Do not speak into the ears of the unwise. They will despise the doctrine of your eloquence.
10 Do not touch the boundaries of little ones, and do not enter into the field of the fatherless.
11 For their close relative is strong, and he will judge their case against you.
12 Let your heart enter into doctrine, and let your ears enter into words of knowledge.
13 Do not be willing to take away discipline from a child. For if you strike him with the rod, he will not die.
14 You will strike him with the rod, and so shall you deliver his soul from Hell.
15 My son, if your soul will become wise, my heart will be glad with you.
16 And my temperament will exult, when your lips will have spoken what is upright.
17 Let not your heart compete with sinners. But be in the fear of the Lord all day long.
18 For you will have hope in the end, and your expectation will not be taken away.
19 Listen, my son, and be wise, and direct your soul along the way.
20 Do not be willing to be in the feasts of great drinkers, nor in the carousings of those who gather to feed on flesh.
21 For those who waste time drinking, and who surrender themselves to symbols, will be consumed. And those who sleep will be clothed in rags.
22 Listen to your father, who conceived you. And do not despise your mother, when she is old.
23 Purchase truth, and do not sell wisdom, or doctrine, or understanding.
24 The father of the just exults in gladness; he who has conceived the wise will rejoice in him.
25 Let your father and your mother be joyful, and may she who conceived you exult.
26 My son, offer me your heart, and let your eyes keep to my ways.
27 For a loose woman is a deep pit, and a foreign woman is a constricted well.
28 She lies in wait along the way like a robber. And the incautious one whom she sees, she will put to death.
29 Who has woe? Whose father has woe? Who has quarrels? Who falls into pits? Who has wounds without cause? Who has watery eyes?
30 Is it not those who linger over wine, and who strive to be drinking from their cups?
31 Do not gaze into the wine when it turns gold, when its color shines in the glass. It enters pleasantly,
32 but in the end, it will bite like a snake, and it will spread poison like a king of snakes.
33 Your eyes will see women who are outsiders, and your heart will utter perversities.
34 And you will be like someone sleeping in the middle of the sea, and like a pilot, fast asleep, who has lost his hold on the helm.
35 And you will say: "They have beaten me, but I did not feel pain. They have dragged me, and I did not realize it. When will I awaken and find more wine?"
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