23 1 When thou sittest to eat with a ruler, [a]consider diligently what is before thee,
2 [b]And put thy knife to thy throat, if thou be a man given to the appetite.
3 Be not desirous of his dainty meats: [c]for it is a deceivable meat.
4 Travail not too much to be rich: but cease from thy [d]wisdom.
5 Wilt thou cast thine eyes upon it, which is nothing? for riches taketh her to her wings, as an Eagle, and flieth into the heaven.
6 Eat thou not the bread of him that hath an [e]evil eye, neither desire his dainty meats.
7 For as though he thought it in his heart: so will he say unto thee, Eat and drink: but his heart is not with thee.
8 Thou shalt vomit thy [f]morsel that thou hast eaten, and thou shalt lose thy sweet words.
9 Speak not in the ears of a fool: for he will despise the wisdom of thy words.
10 (A)Remove not the ancient bounds, and enter not into the fields of the fatherless.
11 For he that redeemeth them, is mighty: he will (B)defend their cause against thee.
12 Apply thine heart to instruction, and thine ears to the words of knowledge.
13 (C)Withhold not correction from the child: if thou smite him with the rod, he shall not die.
14 Thou shalt smite him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from [g]hell.
15 My son, if thine heart be wise, mine heart shall rejoice, and I also,
16 And my reins shall rejoice, when thy lips speak righteous things.
17 (D)Let not thine heart be envious against sinners: but let it be in the fear of the Lord continually.
18 For surely there is an end, [h]and thy hope shall not be cut off.
19 O thou my son, hear, and be wise, and guide thine heart in the [i]way.
20 Keep not company with [j]drunkards, nor with [k]gluttons.
21 For the drunkard and the glutton shall be poor, and the sleeper shall be clothed with rags.
22 Obey thy father that hath begotten thee, and despise not thy mother when she is old.
23 Buy [l]the truth, but sell it not: likewise wisdom, instruction, and understanding.
24 The father of the righteous shall greatly rejoice, and he that begetteth a wise child, shall have joy of him.
25 Thy father and thy mother shall be glad, and she that bare thee shall rejoice.
26 My son, give me [m]thine heart, and let thine eyes delight in my ways.
27 (E)For a whore is as a deep ditch, and a strange woman is as a narrow pit.
28 (F)Also she lieth in wait as for a prey, [n]and she increaseth the transgressors among men.
29 To whom is woe? to whom is sorrow? to whom is strife? to whom is murmuring? to whom are wounds without cause? and to whom is the redness of the eyes?
30 Even to them that tarry long at the wine, to them that go, [o]and seek mixed wine.
31 Look not thou upon the wine, when it is red, and when it showeth his color in the cup, or goeth down pleasantly.
32 In the end thereof it will bite like a serpent, and hurt like a cockatrice.
33 Thine [p]eyes shall look upon strange women, and thine heart shall speak lewd things.
34 And thou shalt be as one that sleepeth in the midst of the [q]sea, and as he that sleepeth in the top of the mast.
35 They have stricken me, shalt thou say, but I was not sick: they have beaten me, but I knew not, when I awoke: therefore will I [r]seek it yet still.
Footnotes
- Proverbs 23:1 Eat with sobriety.
- Proverbs 23:2 Bridle thine appetite, as it were by force and violence.
- Proverbs 23:3 For ofttimes the rich when they bid their inferiors to their tables, it is not for the love they bear them, but for their own secret purposes.
- Proverbs 23:4 Bestow not the gifts that God hath given thee, to get worldly riches.
- Proverbs 23:6 That is, covetous, as contrary a good eye is taken for liberal, as Prov. 22:9.
- Proverbs 23:8 He will not cease till he hath done thee some harm, and his flattering words shall come to no use.
- Proverbs 23:14 That is, from destruction.
- Proverbs 23:18 The prosperity of the wicked shall not continue.
- Proverbs 23:19 In the observation of God’s commandments.
- Proverbs 23:20 Hebrew, wine-bibbers.
- Proverbs 23:20 Hebrew, devourers of flesh.
- Proverbs 23:23 Spare no cost for truth’s sake, neither depart from it for any gain.
- Proverbs 23:26 Give thyself wholly to wisdom.
- Proverbs 23:28 She seduceth many and causeth them to offend God.
- Proverbs 23:30 Which by art make wine stronger and more pleasant.
- Proverbs 23:33 That is, drunkenness shall bring thee to whoredom.
- Proverbs 23:34 In such great danger shalt thou be.
- Proverbs 23:35 Though drunkenness make them more insensible than beasts, yet can they not refrain.