Proverbs 23
Authorized (King James) Version
23 When thou sittest to eat with a ruler,
consider diligently what is before thee:
2 and put a knife to thy throat,
if thou be a man given to appetite.
3 Be not desirous of his dainties:
for they are deceitful meat.
4 Labour not to be rich:
cease from thine own wisdom.
5 Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not?
for riches certainly make themselves wings;
they fly away as an eagle toward heaven.
6 Eat thou not the bread of him that hath an evil eye,
neither desire thou his dainty meats:
7 for as he thinketh in his heart, so is he:
Eat and drink, saith he to thee;
but his heart is not with thee.
8 The morsel which thou hast eaten shalt thou vomit up,
and lose thy sweet words.
9 Speak not in the ears of a fool:
for he will despise the wisdom of thy words.
10 Remove not the old landmark;
and enter not into the fields of the fatherless:
11 for their redeemer is mighty;
he shall plead their cause with thee.
12 Apply thine heart unto instruction,
and thine ears to the words of knowledge.
13 Withhold not correction from the child:
for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die.
14 Thou shalt beat him with the rod,
and shalt deliver his soul from hell.
15 My son, if thine heart be wise,
my heart shall rejoice, even mine.
16 Yea, my reins shall rejoice,
when thy lips speak right things.
17 Let not thine heart envy sinners:
but be thou in the fear of the Lord all the day long.
18 For surely there is an end;
and thine expectation shall not be cut off.
19 Hear thou, my son, and be wise,
and guide thine heart in the way.
20 Be not among winebibbers;
among riotous eaters of flesh:
21 for the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty:
and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags.
22 Hearken unto thy father that begat thee,
and despise not thy mother when she is old.
23 Buy the truth, and sell it not;
also wisdom, and 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 thine heart,
and let thine eyes observe my ways.
27 For a whore is a deep ditch;
and a strange woman is a narrow pit.
28 She also lieth in wait as for a prey,
and increaseth the transgressors among men.
29 Who hath woe? who hath sorrow?
who hath contentions? who hath babbling?
who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes?
30 they that tarry long at the wine;
they that go to seek mixed wine.
31 Look not thou upon the wine when it is red,
when it giveth his colour in the cup,
when it moveth itself aright.
32 At the last it biteth like a serpent,
and stingeth like an adder.
33 Thine eyes shall behold strange women,
and thine heart shall utter perverse things.
34 Yea, thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea,
or as he that lieth upon the top of a mast.
35 They have stricken me, shalt thou say, and I was not sick;
they have beaten me, and I felt it not:
when shall I awake? I will seek it yet again.
Proverbs 23
New Living Translation
23 While dining with a ruler,
pay attention to what is put before you.
2 If you are a big eater,
put a knife to your throat;
3 don’t desire all the delicacies,
for he might be trying to trick you.
4 Don’t wear yourself out trying to get rich.
Be wise enough to know when to quit.
5 In the blink of an eye wealth disappears,
for it will sprout wings
and fly away like an eagle.
6 Don’t eat with people who are stingy;
don’t desire their delicacies.
7 They are always thinking about how much it costs.[a]
“Eat and drink,” they say, but they don’t mean it.
8 You will throw up what little you’ve eaten,
and your compliments will be wasted.
9 Don’t waste your breath on fools,
for they will despise the wisest advice.
10 Don’t cheat your neighbor by moving the ancient boundary markers;
don’t take the land of defenseless orphans.
11 For their Redeemer[b] is strong;
he himself will bring their charges against you.
12 Commit yourself to instruction;
listen carefully to words of knowledge.
13 Don’t fail to discipline your children.
The rod of punishment won’t kill them.
14 Physical discipline
may well save them from death.[c]
15 My child,[d] if your heart is wise,
my own heart will rejoice!
16 Everything in me will celebrate
when you speak what is right.
17 Don’t envy sinners,
but always continue to fear the Lord.
18 You will be rewarded for this;
your hope will not be disappointed.
19 My child, listen and be wise:
Keep your heart on the right course.
20 Do not carouse with drunkards
or feast with gluttons,
21 for they are on their way to poverty,
and too much sleep clothes them in rags.
22 Listen to your father, who gave you life,
and don’t despise your mother when she is old.
23 Get the truth and never sell it;
also get wisdom, discipline, and good judgment.
24 The father of godly children has cause for joy.
What a pleasure to have children who are wise.[e]
25 So give your father and mother joy!
May she who gave you birth be happy.
26 O my son, give me your heart.
May your eyes take delight in following my ways.
27 A prostitute is a dangerous trap;
a promiscuous woman is as dangerous as falling into a narrow well.
28 She hides and waits like a robber,
eager to make more men unfaithful.
29 Who has anguish? Who has sorrow?
Who is always fighting? Who is always complaining?
Who has unnecessary bruises? Who has bloodshot eyes?
30 It is the one who spends long hours in the taverns,
trying out new drinks.
31 Don’t gaze at the wine, seeing how red it is,
how it sparkles in the cup, how smoothly it goes down.
32 For in the end it bites like a poisonous snake;
it stings like a viper.
33 You will see hallucinations,
and you will say crazy things.
34 You will stagger like a sailor tossed at sea,
clinging to a swaying mast.
35 And you will say, “They hit me, but I didn’t feel it.
I didn’t even know it when they beat me up.
When will I wake up
so I can look for another drink?”
KJV reproduced by permission of Cambridge University Press, the Crown’s patentee in the UK.
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
