21 for the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty,
    and (A)slumber will clothe them with rags.

22 (B)Listen to your father who gave you life,
    (C)and do not despise your mother when she is old.
23 (D)Buy truth, and do not sell it;
    buy wisdom, instruction, and understanding.
24 (E)The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice;
    he who fathers a wise son will be glad in him.
25 (F)Let your father and mother be glad;
    let (G)her who bore you rejoice.

26 My son, give me your heart,
    and let your eyes observe[a] my ways.
27 For a prostitute is (H)a deep pit;
    (I)an adulteress[b] is a narrow (J)well.
28 (K)She lies in wait like a robber
    and increases the traitors among mankind.

29 (L)Who has woe? Who has sorrow?
    Who has strife? Who has complaining?
Who has (M)wounds without cause?
    Who has (N)redness of eyes?
30 Those who (O)tarry long over wine;
    those who go to try (P)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 (Q)bites like a serpent
    and stings like an adder.
33 Your eyes will see strange things,
    and your heart utter (R)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.[c]
35 “They (S)struck me,” you will say,[d] “but I was not hurt;
    they beat me, but I did not feel it.
When shall I awake?
    I (T)must have another drink.”

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 23:26 Or delight in
  2. Proverbs 23:27 Hebrew a foreign woman
  3. Proverbs 23:34 Or of the rigging
  4. Proverbs 23:35 Hebrew lacks you will say

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