Proverbs 23
World English Bible
23 When you sit to eat with a ruler,
consider diligently what is before you;
2 put a knife to your throat,
if you are a man given to appetite.
3 Don’t be desirous of his dainties,
since they are deceitful food.
4 Don’t weary yourself to be rich.
In your wisdom, show restraint.
5 Why do you set your eyes on that which is not?
For it certainly sprouts wings like an eagle and flies in the sky.
6 Don’t eat the food of him who has a stingy eye,
and don’t crave his delicacies:
7 for as he thinks about the cost, so he is.
“Eat and drink!” he says to you,
but his heart is not with you.
8 The morsel which you have eaten you shall vomit up,
and lose your good words.
9 Don’t speak in the ears of a fool,
for he will despise the wisdom of your words.
10 Don’t move the ancient boundary stone.
Don’t encroach on the fields of the fatherless,
11 for their Defender is strong.
He will plead their case against you.
12 Apply your heart to instruction,
and your ears to the words of knowledge.
13 Don’t withhold correction from a child.
If you punish him with the rod, he will not die.
14 Punish him with the rod,
and save his soul from Sheol.[a]
15 My son, if your heart is wise,
then my heart will be glad, even mine.
16 Yes, my heart will rejoice
when your lips speak what is right.
17 Don’t let your heart envy sinners,
but rather fear Yahweh all day long.
18 Indeed surely there is a future hope,
and your hope will not be cut off.
19 Listen, my son, and be wise,
and keep your heart on the right path!
20 Don’t be among ones drinking too much wine,
or those who gorge themselves on meat:
21 for the drunkard and the glutton shall become poor;
and drowsiness clothes them in rags.
22 Listen to your father who gave you life,
and don’t despise your mother when she is old.
23 Buy the truth, and don’t sell it.
Get wisdom, discipline, and understanding.
24 The father of the righteous has great joy.
Whoever fathers a wise child delights in him.
25 Let your father and your mother be glad!
Let her who bore you rejoice!
26 My son, give me your heart;
and let your eyes keep in my ways.
27 For a prostitute is a deep pit;
and a wayward wife is a narrow well.
28 Yes, she lies in wait like a robber,
and increases the unfaithful among men.
29 Who has woe?
Who has sorrow?
Who has strife?
Who has complaints?
Who has needless bruises?
Who has bloodshot eyes?
30 Those who stay long at the wine;
those who go to seek out mixed wine.
31 Don’t look at the wine when it is red,
when it sparkles in the cup,
when it goes down smoothly.
32 In the end, it bites like a snake,
and poisons like a viper.
33 Your eyes will see strange things,
and your mind will imagine confusing things.
34 Yes, you will be as he who lies down in the middle of the sea,
or as he who lies on top of the rigging:
35 “They hit me, and I was not hurt!
They beat me, and I don’t feel it!
When will I wake up? I can do it again.
I can find another.”
Footnotes
- 23:14 Sheol is the place of the dead.
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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