Proverbs 23
Legacy Standard Bible
The Fear of Yahweh
23 When you sit down to dine with a ruler,
Understand well [a]what is before you,
2 So you should put a knife to your throat
If you are a (A)man of appetite.
3 Do not (B)desire his delicacies,
For it is bread of falsehood.
4 (C)Do not weary yourself to gain wealth,
(D)Because of your understanding, cease!
5 Do you make your eyes fly up to see it? But it is not there!
Because (E)it certainly makes itself wings
Like an eagle that flies toward the heavens.
6 (F)Do not eat the bread of [b]a (G)selfish man,
And do not desire his delicacies;
7 For as he [c]calculates in his soul, so he is.
“Eat and drink!” he says to you,
But (H)his heart is not with you.
8 You will (I)vomit up [d]the morsel you have eaten,
And you will corrupt your pleasant words.
10 Do not move the ancient boundary
And do not (L)come into the fields of the orphans,
11 For their (M)Redeemer is strong;
(N)He will plead their case against you.
12 Bring your heart to discipline
And your ears to [f]words of knowledge.
13 (O)Do not withhold discipline from the child,
Although you [g]strike him with the rod, he will not die.
14 You shall [h]strike him with the rod
And (P)deliver his soul from Sheol.
15 My son, if your heart is (Q)wise,
My own heart also will be glad;
16 And my [i]inmost being will exult
When your lips speak (R)upright things.
17 (S)Do not let your heart be jealous of sinners,
But be zealous in the [j](T)fear of Yahweh [k]always.
18 Surely there is a [l](U)future,
And your (V)hope will not be cut off.
19 You, my son, listen and (W)be wise,
And (X)direct your heart in the way.
20 Do not be with (Y)heavy drinkers of wine,
Or with (Z)gluttonous eaters of meat;
21 For the (AA)heavy drinker and the glutton will come to poverty,
And (AB)drowsiness will clothe them with rags.
22 (AC)Listen to your father who begot you,
And (AD)do not despise your mother when she is old.
23 (AE)Buy truth, and do not sell it,
Get wisdom and discipline and understanding.
24 The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice,
And (AF)he who begets a wise son will be glad in him.
25 Let your (AG)father and your mother be glad,
And let her rejoice who gave birth to you.
26 (AH)Give your heart to me, my son,
And let your eyes [m](AI)delight in my ways.
27 For a harlot is a (AJ)deep pit
And [n]a (AK)foreign woman is a narrow well.
28 Surely she (AL)lies in wait as a robber,
And adds to the treacherous among men.
29 Who has (AM)woe? Who has sorrow?
Who has contentions? Who has complaining?
Who has wounds without cause?
Who has redness of eyes?
30 Those who (AN)linger long over wine,
Those who go to search out (AO)mixed wine.
31 Do not look on the wine when it glistens red,
When it [o]sparkles in the cup,
When it (AP)goes down smoothly;
32 At the end—like a serpent it (AQ)bites,
And like a (AR)viper it stings.
33 Your eyes will see strange things
And your heart will (AS)speak perverse things.
34 And you will be like one who lies down in the heart of the sea,
Or like one who lies down on the top of a [p]mast.
35 “They (AT)struck me, but I did not become [q]ill;
They beat me, but I did not know it.
When shall I awake?
I will (AU)seek yet another.”
Footnotes
- Proverbs 23:1 Or who
- Proverbs 23:6 Lit an evil eye
- Proverbs 23:7 Lit reckons in his soul
- Proverbs 23:8 Lit your
- Proverbs 23:9 Lit ears
- Proverbs 23:12 Lit sayings
- Proverbs 23:13 Lit smite
- Proverbs 23:14 Lit smite
- Proverbs 23:16 Lit kidneys
- Proverbs 23:17 Or reverence
- Proverbs 23:17 Lit all the day
- Proverbs 23:18 Lit latter end
- Proverbs 23:26 Or observe
- Proverbs 23:27 Or an adulterous, cf. Prov 2:16
- Proverbs 23:31 Lit gives its eye
- Proverbs 23:34 Or lookout
- Proverbs 23:35 From the effect of wounds
Proverbs 23
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.
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