Proverbs 23
23
1When you sit down to dine with a ruler,
carefully consider what is in front of you.
2Place a knife at your throat
to control your appetite.
3Don’t long for the ruler’s delicacies;
the food misleads.
4Don’t wear yourself out trying to get rich;
be smart enough to stop.
5When your eyes fly to wealth
it is gone; it grows wings
like an eagle and flies heavenward.
6Don’t eat food with stingy people;
don’t long for their delicacies,
7because they are like a hair in the throat.#23.7 LXX; Heb uncertain
They say to you, “Eat and drink!”
but they don’t mean it.
8You will eat scraps and vomit them out.
You will waste your pleasant words.
9Don’t speak in the ears of fools,
for they will scorn your insightful words.
10Don’t remove an ancient boundary marker;
don’t invade the fields of orphans,
11for their redeemer is strong.
He will bring charges against you.
12Bring your mind to instruction,
your ear to knowledgeable sayings.
13Don’t withhold instruction from children;
if you strike them with a rod, they won’t die.
14Strike them with a rod,
and you will save their lives from the grave.#23.14 Heb Sheol
15My child, if your heart is wise,
then my heart too will be happy.
16My inner being will rejoice
when your lips speak with integrity.
17Don’t let your heart envy sinners,
but fear the LORD constantly;
18then you will have a future,
and your hope won’t be cut off.
19Listen, my child, and be wise!
Keep your mind straight on the path.
20Don’t hang out with those who get drunk on wine
or those who eat too much meat,
21because drunks and gluttons will be impoverished;
their stupor will clothe them in rags.
22Listen to your father, who gave you life;
don’t despise your elderly mother.
23Buy truth and don’t sell it;
buy wisdom, instruction, and understanding.
24The father of the righteous will be very happy;
the one who gives life to the wise will rejoice.
25Your father and your mother will rejoice;
she who gave you birth will be happy.
26My child, give your mind to me
and let your eyes keep to my path.
27A prostitute is a deep pit,
and a foreign woman is a narrow well.
28Indeed, she ambushes like a robber
and increases the number of the faithless.
29Who is suffering?
Who is uneasy?
Who has arguments?
Who has complaints?
Who has unnecessary wounds?
Who has glazed eyes?—
30those who linger over wine;
those who go looking for mixed wine.
31Don’t look at wine when it is red,
when it sparkles in the cup,
going down smoothly.
32In the end, it bites like a snake
and poisons like a viper.
33Your eyes will see strange things,
and your heart will speak distorted words.
34You will be like one who lies down while out on the sea#23.34 Or in the heart of the sea
or one who lies on top of a mast.
35“Though hit, I feel no pain;
though beaten up, I don’t know anything about it.
When I wake up,
I’ll look for wine again!”
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Proverbs 23: CEB
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