Proverbs 23:1-18

English Standard Version

23 When you sit down to eat with a ruler,
    observe carefully what^[a] is before you,
² and put a knife to your throat
    if you are given to appetite.
^3 (A)Do not desire his delicacies,
    for they are deceptive food.
^4 (B)Do not toil to acquire wealth;
    ^(C)be discerning enough to desist.
⁵ When your eyes light on it, it is gone,
    ^(D)for suddenly it sprouts wings,
    flying like an eagle toward heaven.
^6 (E)Do not eat the bread of a man who is ^(F)stingy;^{[b]
    (G)}do not desire his delicacies,
⁷ for he is like one who is inwardly calculating.^[c]
    “Eat and drink!” he says to you,
    but his ^(H)heart is not with you.
⁸ You will vomit up the morsels that you have eaten,
    and waste your pleasant words.
⁹ Do not speak in the hearing of a fool,
    for he will despise the good sense of your words.
^10 (I)Do not move an ancient landmark
    or enter the fields of the fatherless,
¹¹ for their ^(J)Redeemer is strong;
    he will ^(K)plead their cause against you.
¹² Apply your heart to instruction
    and your ear to words of knowledge.
¹³ Do not withhold ^(L)discipline from a child;
    ^(M)if you strike him with a rod, he will not die.
¹⁴ If you strike him with the rod,
    you will ^(N)save his soul from Sheol.
^15 (O)My son, if your heart is wise,
    my heart too will be glad.
¹⁶ My ^(P)inmost being^[d] will exult
    when your lips speak ^(Q)what is right.
¹⁷ Let not your heart ^(R)envy sinners,
    but continue in ^(S)the fear of the Lord all the day.
¹⁸ Surely ^(T)there is a future,
    and your ^(U)hope will not be cut off.