Proverbs 23
Lexham English Bible
23 When you sit to eat with a ruler,
you shall surely observe what is before you,
2 and you shall put a knife to your throat
if you have a big appetite.[a]
3 Do not desire his delicacies,
for[b] it is food of deception.
4 Do not tire in order to become rich;
out of your understanding, may you desist.
5 Your eyes will alight[c] on it, but there is nothing to it,
for suddenly it will make for itself wings
like an eagle and it will be exhausted in the heavens.
6 Do not eat the bread of the stingy,[d]
and do not desire his delicacies.
7 For, like hair in his throat,[e] so it is.[f]
“Eat and drink!” he will say to you,
but his heart will not be with you.
8 Your morsel you have eaten, you will vomit it up,
and you will waste your pleasant words.
9 In the ears of a fool do not speak,
for he will despise the wisdom of your words.
10 Do not remove an ancient boundary marker,
and on the fields of orphans do not encroach;
11 For their redeemer is strong,
he himself will plead their cause against you.
12 Apply your heart[g] to instruction,
and your ear to sayings of knowledge.
13 Do not withhold discipline from a child,
if you will beat him with the rod, he will not die.
14 As for you, with the rod you shall beat him,
and his life[h] you will save from Sheol.[i]
15 My child, if your heart[j] is wise,
my heart will be glad—even me!
16 And my insides[k] will rejoice
when your lips speak what is upright.
17 May your heart[l] not envy the sinners,
but live in fear of Yahweh all day.[m]
18 Surely[n] there is a future,
and your hope will not be cut off.
19 You, my child, hear and be wise,
and direct your heart[o] on the road.
20 Do not be among drinkers of wine,
among gluttonous eaters of their meat.[p]
21 For the drunkard and gluttonous, they will become poor,
and with rags, drowsiness will clothe them.
22 Listen to your father—he who gave you life,[q]
and do not despise your mother when[r] she is old.
23 Buy truth and do not sell it,
wisdom and instruction and understanding.
24 The father of the righteous will surely rejoice;
he who bears a wise person will be happy with him.
25 May your father and your mother be glad,
and may she who bore you rejoice.
26 My child, may you give your heart[s] to me,
and may your eyes delight in my ways.
27 For a deep pit is a prostitute,[t]
and a narrow well is an adulteress.[u]
28 She is also like a robber lying in wait,
and the faithless among mankind she increases.
29 To whom is woe? To whom is sorrow? To whom are quarrels? To whom is complaint?
To whom are wounds without cause? To whom is redness of the eyes?
30 To those who linger over wine,
to those who come to try mixed wine.
31 Do not look at wine when it is red,
when it sparkles[v] on the cup,
going down smoothly.
32 In the end,[w] it will bite like a serpent,
and it will sting like an adder.
33 Your eyes will see strange things,
and your heart[x] will speak perverse things.
34 And you will be like him who lies down in the heart of the sea,
and like him who lies down on top of a mast.
35 “They struck me; I was not hurt. They beat me; I did not know it.
When I will awake, I will continue; I will seek it again.”
Footnotes
- Proverbs 23:2 Literally “lord/master of life”
- Proverbs 23:3 Hebrew “and”
- Proverbs 23:5 Literally “cause to fly”
- Proverbs 23:6 Literally “stingy of eye”
- Proverbs 23:7 Literally “soul,” or “inner self”
- Proverbs 23:7 Or “is he”
- Proverbs 23:12 Or “mind”
- Proverbs 23:14 Or “soul,” or “inner self”
- Proverbs 23:14 A term for the place where the dead reside, i.e., the Underworld
- Proverbs 23:15 Or “mind”
- Proverbs 23:16 Literally “kidneys”
- Proverbs 23:17 Or “mind”
- Proverbs 23:17 Literally “all the day”
- Proverbs 23:18 Literally “For if”
- Proverbs 23:19 Or “mind”
- Proverbs 23:20 Literally “meat for them”
- Proverbs 23:22 Literally “caused you to be born”
- Proverbs 23:22 Or “for, because”
- Proverbs 23:26 Or “mind”
- Proverbs 23:27 Or “whore”
- Proverbs 23:27 Literally “a foreign woman”
- Proverbs 23:31 Literally “gives its eye”
- Proverbs 23:32 Literally “end him”
- Proverbs 23:33 Or “mind”
Proverbs 23
American Standard Version
23 When thou sittest to eat with a ruler,
Consider diligently [a]him that is before thee;
2 [b]And put a knife to thy throat,
If thou be a man given to appetite.
3 Be not desirous of his dainties;
Seeing they are deceitful food.
4 Weary not thyself to be rich;
Cease [c]from thine own wisdom.
5 [d]Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not?
For riches certainly make themselves wings,
Like an eagle that flieth toward heaven.
6 Eat thou not the bread of him that hath an evil eye,
Neither desire thou his dainties:
7 For [e]as he thinketh within himself, 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 hearing of a fool;
For he will despise the wisdom of thy words.
10 Remove not the ancient landmark;
And enter not into the fields of the fatherless:
11 For their Redeemer is strong;
He will plead their cause against thee.
12 Apply thy heart unto [f]instruction,
And thine ears to the words of knowledge.
13 Withhold not correction from the child;
For [g]if thou beat him with the rod, he will not die.
14 Thou shalt beat him with the rod,
And shalt deliver his soul from Sheol.
15 My son, if thy heart be wise,
My heart will be glad, even mine:
16 Yea, my [h]heart will rejoice,
When thy lips speak right things.
17 Let not thy heart envy sinners;
But be thou in the fear of Jehovah all the day long:
18 For surely there is a [i]reward;
And thy hope shall not be cut off.
19 Hear thou, my son, and be wise,
And guide thy heart in the way.
20 Be not among winebibbers,
Among gluttonous eaters of flesh:
21 For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty;
And drowsiness will 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;
Yea, wisdom, and instruction, and understanding.
24 The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice;
And he that begetteth a wise child will have joy of him.
25 Let thy father and thy mother be glad,
And let her that bare thee rejoice.
26 My son, give me thy heart;
And let thine eyes [j]delight in my ways.
27 For a harlot is a deep ditch;
And a foreign woman is a narrow pit.
28 Yea, she lieth in wait [k]as a robber,
And increaseth the treacherous among men.
29 Who hath [l]woe? who hath [m]sorrow? who hath contentions?
Who hath complaining? who hath wounds without cause?
Who hath [n]redness of eyes?
30 They that tarry long at the wine;
They that go to [o]seek out mixed wine.
31 Look not thou upon the wine when it is red,
When it sparkleth in the cup,
When it [p]goeth down smoothly:
32 At the last it biteth like a serpent,
And stingeth like an adder.
33 Thine eyes shall behold [q]strange things,
And thy 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 hurt;
They have beaten me, and I felt it not:
When shall I awake? I will seek it yet again.
Footnotes
- Proverbs 23:1 Or, what
- Proverbs 23:2 Or, For thou wilt put
- Proverbs 23:4 Or, by reason of thine own understanding
- Proverbs 23:5 Or, Wilt thou set thine eyes upon it? it is gone: Hebrew Shall thine eyes fly upon it, and it is not?
- Proverbs 23:7 Or, as one that reckoneth
- Proverbs 23:12 Or, correction
- Proverbs 23:13 Or, though
- Proverbs 23:16 Hebrew reins.
- Proverbs 23:18 Or, sequel. Or, future. Hebrew latter end.
- Proverbs 23:26 Another reading is, observe
- Proverbs 23:28 Or, as for a prey
- Proverbs 23:29 Hebrew Oh!
- Proverbs 23:29 Hebrew Alas!
- Proverbs 23:29 Or, darkness
- Proverbs 23:30 Or, try
- Proverbs 23:31 Or, moveth itself aright
- Proverbs 23:33 Or, strange women
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