Proverbs 23
New King James Version
Listen to Your Father
23 When you sit down to eat with a ruler,
Consider carefully what is before you;
2 And put a knife to your throat
If you are a man given to appetite.
3 Do not desire his delicacies,
For they are deceptive food.
4 (A)Do not overwork to be rich;
(B)Because of your own understanding, cease!
5 [a]Will you set your eyes on that which is not?
For riches certainly make themselves wings;
They fly away like an eagle toward heaven.
6 Do not eat the bread of (C)a[b] miser,
Nor desire his delicacies;
7 For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.
“Eat and drink!” (D)he says to you,
But his heart is not with you.
8 The morsel you have eaten, you will vomit up,
And waste your pleasant words.
9 (E)Do not speak in the hearing of a fool,
For he will despise the wisdom of your words.
10 Do not remove the ancient [c]landmark,
Nor enter the fields of the fatherless;
11 (F)For their Redeemer is mighty;
He will plead their cause against you.
12 Apply your heart to instruction,
And your ears to words of knowledge.
13 (G)Do not withhold correction from a child,
For if you beat him with a rod, he will not die.
14 You shall beat him with a rod,
And deliver his soul from [d]hell.
15 My son, if your heart is wise,
My heart will rejoice—indeed, I myself;
16 Yes, my [e]inmost being will rejoice
When your lips speak right things.
17 (H)Do not let your heart envy sinners,
But (I)be zealous for the fear of the Lord all the day;
18 (J)For surely there is a [f]hereafter,
And your hope will not be cut off.
19 Hear, my son, and be wise;
And guide your heart in the way.
20 (K)Do not mix with winebibbers,
Or with gluttonous eaters of meat;
21 For the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty,
And drowsiness will clothe a man with rags.
22 (L)Listen to your father who begot you,
And do not despise your mother when she is old.
23 (M)Buy the truth, and do not sell it,
Also wisdom and instruction and understanding.
24 (N)The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice,
And he who begets a wise child will delight in him.
25 Let your father and your mother be glad,
And let her who bore you rejoice.
26 My son, give me your heart,
And let your eyes observe my ways.
27 (O)For a harlot is a deep pit,
And a seductress is a narrow well.
28 (P)She also lies in wait as for a victim,
And increases the unfaithful among men.
29 (Q)Who has woe?
Who has sorrow?
Who has contentions?
Who has complaints?
Who has wounds without cause?
Who (R)has redness of eyes?
30 (S)Those who linger long at the wine,
Those who go in search of (T)mixed wine.
31 Do not look on the wine when it is red,
When it sparkles in the cup,
When it [g]swirls around smoothly;
32 At the last it bites like a serpent,
And stings like a viper.
33 Your eyes will see strange things,
And your heart will utter perverse things.
34 Yes, you will be like one who lies down in the [h]midst of the sea,
Or like one who lies at the top of the mast, saying:
35 “They(U) have struck me, but I was not hurt;
They have beaten me, but I did not feel it.
When shall (V)I awake, that I may seek another drink?”
Footnotes
- Proverbs 23:5 Lit. Will you cause your eyes to fly upon it and it is not?
- Proverbs 23:6 Lit. one who has an evil eye
- Proverbs 23:10 boundary
- Proverbs 23:14 Or Sheol
- Proverbs 23:16 Lit. kidneys
- Proverbs 23:18 Future, lit. latter end
- Proverbs 23:31 goes around
- Proverbs 23:34 Lit. heart
Genesis 11-13
New King James Version
The Tower of Babel
11 Now the whole earth had one language and one [a]speech. 2 And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land (A)of Shinar, and they dwelt there. 3 Then they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and [b]bake them thoroughly.” They had brick for stone, and they had asphalt for mortar. 4 And they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower (B)whose top is in the heavens; let us make a (C)name for ourselves, lest we (D)be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.”
5 (E)But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. 6 And the Lord said, “Indeed (F)the people are one and they all have (G)one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they (H)propose to do will be withheld from them. 7 Come, (I)let Us go down and there (J)confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.” 8 So (K)the Lord scattered them abroad from there (L)over the face of all the earth, and they ceased building the city. 9 Therefore its name is called [c]Babel, (M)because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth; and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.
Shem’s Descendants(N)
10 (O)This is the genealogy of Shem: Shem was one hundred years old, and begot Arphaxad two years after the flood. 11 After he begot Arphaxad, Shem lived five hundred years, and begot sons and daughters.
12 Arphaxad lived thirty-five years, (P)and begot Salah. 13 After he begot Salah, Arphaxad lived four hundred and three years, and begot sons and daughters.
14 Salah lived thirty years, and begot Eber. 15 After he begot Eber, Salah lived four hundred and three years, and begot sons and daughters.
16 (Q)Eber lived thirty-four years, and begot (R)Peleg. 17 After he begot Peleg, Eber lived four hundred and thirty years, and begot sons and daughters.
18 Peleg lived thirty years, and begot Reu. 19 After he begot Reu, Peleg lived two hundred and nine years, and begot sons and daughters.
20 Reu lived thirty-two years, and begot (S)Serug. 21 After he begot Serug, Reu lived two hundred and seven years, and begot sons and daughters.
22 Serug lived thirty years, and begot Nahor. 23 After he begot Nahor, Serug lived two hundred years, and begot sons and daughters.
24 Nahor lived twenty-nine years, and begot (T)Terah. 25 After he begot Terah, Nahor lived one hundred and nineteen years, and begot sons and daughters.
26 Now Terah lived seventy years, and (U)begot [d]Abram, Nahor, and Haran.
Terah’s Descendants
27 This is the genealogy of Terah: Terah begot (V)Abram, Nahor, and Haran. Haran begot Lot. 28 And Haran died before his father Terah in his native land, in Ur of the Chaldeans. 29 Then Abram and Nahor took wives: the name of Abram’s wife was (W)Sarai,[e] and the name of Nahor’s wife, (X)Milcah, the daughter of Haran the father of Milcah and the father of Iscah. 30 But (Y)Sarai was barren; she had no child.
31 And Terah (Z)took his son Abram and his grandson Lot, the son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, his son Abram’s wife, and they went out with them from (AA)Ur of the Chaldeans to go to (AB)the land of Canaan; and they came to Haran and dwelt there. 32 So the days of Terah were two hundred and five years, and Terah died in Haran.
Promises to Abram(AC)
12 Now the (AD)Lord had said to Abram:
“Get (AE)out of your country,
From your family
And from your father’s house,
To a land that I will show you.
2 (AF)I will make you a great nation;
(AG)I will bless you
And make your name great;
(AH)And you shall be a blessing.
3 (AI)I will bless those who bless you,
And I will curse him who curses you;
And in (AJ)you all the families of the earth shall be (AK)blessed.”
4 So Abram departed as the Lord had spoken to him, and Lot went with him. And Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. 5 Then Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his brother’s son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and (AL)the [f]people whom they had acquired (AM)in Haran, and they (AN)departed to go to the land of Canaan. So they came to the land of Canaan. 6 Abram (AO)passed through the land to the place of Shechem, (AP)as far as [g]the terebinth tree of Moreh. (AQ)And the Canaanites were then in the land.
7 (AR)Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, (AS)“To your [h]descendants I will give this land.” And there he built an (AT)altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him. 8 And he moved from there to the mountain east of Bethel, and he pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; there he built an altar to the Lord and (AU)called on the name of the Lord. 9 So Abram journeyed, (AV)going on still toward the [i]South.
Abram in Egypt
10 Now there was (AW)a famine in the land, and Abram (AX)went down to Egypt to dwell there, for the famine was (AY)severe in the land. 11 And it came to pass, when he was close to entering Egypt, that he said to Sarai his wife, “Indeed I know that you are (AZ)a woman of beautiful countenance. 12 Therefore it will happen, when the Egyptians see you, that they will say, ‘This is his wife’; and they (BA)will kill me, but they will let you live. 13 (BB)Please say you are my (BC)sister, that it may be well with me for your sake, and that [j]I may live because of you.”
14 So it was, when Abram came into Egypt, that the Egyptians saw the woman, that she was very beautiful. 15 The princes of Pharaoh also saw her and commended her to Pharaoh. And the woman was taken to Pharaoh’s house. 16 He (BD)treated Abram well for her sake. He (BE)had sheep, oxen, male donkeys, male and female servants, female donkeys, and camels.
17 But the Lord (BF)plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife. 18 And Pharaoh called Abram and said, (BG)“What is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife? 19 Why did you say, ‘She is my sister’? I might have taken her as my wife. Now therefore, here is your wife; take her and go your way.” 20 (BH)So Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him; and they sent him away, with his wife and all that he had.
Abram Inherits Canaan
13 Then Abram went up from Egypt, he and his wife and all that he had, and (BI)Lot with him, (BJ)to the [k]South. 2 (BK)Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold. 3 And he went on his journey (BL)from the South as far as Bethel, to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai, 4 to the (BM)place of the altar which he had made there at first. And there Abram (BN)called on the name of the Lord.
5 Lot also, who went with Abram, had flocks and herds and tents. 6 Now (BO)the land was not able to [l]support them, that they might dwell together, for their possessions were so great that they could not dwell together. 7 And there was (BP)strife between the herdsmen of Abram’s livestock and the herdsmen of Lot’s livestock. (BQ)The Canaanites and the Perizzites then dwelt in the land.
8 So Abram said to Lot, (BR)“Please let there be no strife between you and me, and between my herdsmen and your herdsmen; for we are brethren. 9 (BS)Is not the whole land before you? Please (BT)separate from me. (BU)If you take the left, then I will go to the right; or, if you go to the right, then I will go to the left.”
10 And Lot lifted his eyes and saw all (BV)the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere (before the Lord (BW)destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah) (BX)like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt as you go toward (BY)Zoar. 11 Then Lot chose for himself all the plain of Jordan, and Lot journeyed east. And they separated from each other. 12 Abram dwelt in the land of Canaan, and Lot (BZ)dwelt in the cities of the plain and (CA)pitched his tent even as far as Sodom. 13 But the men of Sodom (CB)were exceedingly wicked and (CC)sinful against the Lord.
14 And the Lord said to Abram, after Lot (CD)had separated from him: “Lift your eyes now and look from the place where you are—(CE)northward, southward, eastward, and westward; 15 for all the land which you see (CF)I give to you and (CG)your [m]descendants forever. 16 And (CH)I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth; so that if a man could number the dust of the earth, then your descendants also could be numbered. 17 Arise, walk in the land through its length and its width, for I give it to you.”
18 (CI)Then Abram moved his tent, and went and (CJ)dwelt by [n]the terebinth trees of Mamre, (CK)which are in Hebron, and built an (CL)altar there to the Lord.
Footnotes
- Genesis 11:1 Lit. lip
- Genesis 11:3 Lit. burn
- Genesis 11:9 Lit. Confusion, Babylon
- Genesis 11:26 Abraham, Gen. 17:5
- Genesis 11:29 Sarah, Gen. 17:15
- Genesis 12:5 Lit. souls
- Genesis 12:6 Heb. Alon Moreh
- Genesis 12:7 Lit. seed
- Genesis 12:9 Heb. Negev
- Genesis 12:13 Lit. my soul
- Genesis 13:1 Heb. Negev
- Genesis 13:6 Lit. bear
- Genesis 13:15 Lit. seed
- Genesis 13:18 Heb. Alon Mamre
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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