Proverbs 23
23
–6–
1When you are invited
to eat with a king,
use your best manners.
2Don't go and stuff yourself!
That would be just the same
as cutting your throat.
3Don't be greedy for all
of that fancy food!
It may not be so tasty.
–7–
4Give up trying so hard
to get rich.
5Your money flies away
before you know it,
just like an eagle
suddenly taking off.
–8–
6Don't accept an invitation
to eat a selfish person's food,
no matter how good it is.
7People like that take note
of how much you eat.#23.7 People … eat: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
They say, “Take all you want!”
But they don't mean it.
8Each bite will come back up,
and all your kind words
will be wasted.
–9–
9Don't talk to fools—
they will make fun of you.
–10–
10Don't move a boundary marker#23.10 marker: See the note at 22.28.
or take the land
that belongs to orphans.
11God All-Powerful is there
to defend them against you.
–11–
12Listen to instruction
and do your best to learn.
–12–
13Don't fail to correct
your children.
You won't kill them
by being firm,
14and it may even
save their lives.
–13–
15My children,
if you show good sense,
I will be happy,
16and if you are truthful,
I will really be glad.
–14–
17Don't be jealous of sinners,
but always honor the Lord.
18Then you will truly have hope
for the future.
–15–
19Listen to me, my children!
Be wise and have enough sense
to follow the right path.
20Don't be a heavy drinker
or stuff yourself with food.
21It will make you feel drowsy,
and you will end up poor
with only rags to wear.
–16–
22Pay attention to your father,
and don't neglect your mother
when she grows old.
23Invest in truth and wisdom,
discipline and good sense,
and don't part with them.
24Make your father truly happy
by living right and showing
sound judgment.
25Make your parents proud,
especially your mother.
–17–
26My son, pay close attention,
and gladly follow
my example.
27Bad women and unfaithful wives
are like a deep pit—
28they are waiting to attack you
like a gang of robbers
with victim after victim.
–18–
29Who is always in trouble?
Who argues and fights?
Who has cuts and bruises?
Whose eyes are red?
30Everyone who stays up late,
having just one more drink.
31Don't even look
at that colorful stuff
bubbling up in the glass!
It goes down so easily,
32but later it bites
like a poisonous snake.
33You will see weird things,
and your mind
will play tricks on you.
34You will feel tossed about
like someone trying to sleep
on a ship in a storm.
35You will be bruised all over,
without even remembering
how it all happened.
And you will lie awake asking,
“When will morning come,
so I can drink some more?”
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Proverbs 23: CEVDCI
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Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)
© 2006 American Bible Society. 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