Proverbs 23
[1] When you sit down to eat with a ruler,
observe carefully what is before you,
[2] and put a knife to your throat
if you are given to appetite.
[3] Do not desire his delicacies,
for they are deceptive food.
[4] Do not toil to acquire wealth;
be discerning enough to desist.
[5] When your eyes light on it, it is gone,
for suddenly it sprouts wings,
flying like an eagle toward heaven.
[6] Do not eat the bread of a man who is stingy;
do not desire his delicacies,
[7] for he is like one who is inwardly calculating.
“Eat and drink!” he says to you,
but his heart is not with you.
[8] You will vomit up the morsels that you have eaten,
and waste your pleasant words.
[9] Do not speak in the hearing of a fool,
for he will despise the good sense of your words.
[10] Do not move an ancient landmark
or enter the fields of the fatherless,
[11] for their Redeemer is strong;
he will plead their cause against you.
[12] Apply your heart to instruction
and your ear to words of knowledge.
[13] Do not withhold discipline from a child;
if you strike him with a rod, he will not die.
[14] If you strike him with the rod,
you will save his soul from Sheol.
[15] My son, if your heart is wise,
my heart too will be glad.
[16] My inmost being will exult
when your lips speak what is right.
[17] Let not your heart envy sinners,
but continue in the fear of the LORD all the day.
[18] Surely there is a future,
and your hope will not be cut off.
[19] Hear, my son, and be wise,
and direct your heart in the way.
[20] Be not among drunkards
or among gluttonous eaters of meat,
[21] for the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty,
and slumber will clothe them with rags.
[22] Listen to your father who gave you life,
and do not despise your mother when she is old.
[23] Buy truth, and do not sell it;
buy wisdom, instruction, and understanding.
[24] The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice;
he who fathers a wise son will be glad in him.
[25] Let your father and mother be glad;
let her who bore you rejoice.
[26] My son, give me your heart,
and let your eyes observe my ways.
[27] For a prostitute is a deep pit;
an adulteress is a narrow well.
[28] She lies in wait like a robber
and increases the traitors among mankind.
[29] Who has woe? Who has sorrow?
Who has strife? Who has complaining?
Who has wounds without cause?
Who has redness of eyes?
[30] Those who tarry long over wine;
those who go to try mixed wine.
[31] Do not look at wine when it is red,
when it sparkles in the cup
and goes down smoothly.
[32] In the end it bites like a serpent
and stings like an adder.
[33] Your eyes will see strange things,
and your heart utter perverse things.
[34] You will be like one who lies down in the midst of the sea,
like one who lies on the top of a mast.
[35] “They struck me,” you will say, “but I was not hurt;
they beat me, but I did not feel it.
When shall I awake?
I must have another drink.” (ESV)
