Proverbs 23
New Century Version
23 If you sit down to eat with a ruler,
notice the food that is in front of you.
2 Control yourself
if you have a big appetite.
3 Don’t be greedy for his fine foods,
because that food might be a trick.
4 Don’t wear yourself out trying to get rich;
be wise enough to control yourself.
5 Wealth can vanish in the wink of an eye.
It can seem to grow wings
and fly away like an eagle.
6 Don’t eat the food of selfish people;
don’t be greedy for their fine foods.
7 Selfish people are always worrying
about how much the food costs.
They tell you, “Eat and drink,”
but they don’t really mean it.
8 You will throw up the little you have eaten,
and you will have wasted your kind words.
9 Don’t speak to fools;
they will only ignore your wise words.
10 Don’t move an old stone that marks a border,
and don’t take fields that belong to orphans.
11 God, their defender, is strong;
he will take their side against you.
12 Remember what you are taught,
and listen carefully to words of knowledge.
13 Don’t fail to punish children.
If you spank them, they won’t die.
14 If you spank them,
you will save them from death.
15 My child, if you are wise,
then I will be happy.
16 I will be so pleased
if you speak what is right.
17 Don’t envy sinners,
but always respect the Lord.
18 Then you will have hope for the future,
and your wishes will come true.
19 Listen, my child, and be wise.
Keep your mind on what is right.
20 Don’t drink too much wine
or eat too much food.
21 Those who drink and eat too much become poor.
They sleep too much and end up wearing rags.
22 Listen to your father, who gave you life,
and do not forget your mother when she is old.
23 Learn the truth and never reject it.
Get wisdom, self-control, and understanding.
24 The father of a good child is very happy;
parents who have wise children are glad because of them.
25 Make your father and mother happy;
give your mother a reason to be glad.
26 My son, pay attention to me,
and watch closely what I do.
27 A prostitute is as dangerous as a deep pit,
and an unfaithful wife is like a narrow well.
28 They ambush you like robbers
and cause many men to be unfaithful to their wives.
29 Who has trouble? Who has pain?
Who fights? Who complains?
Who has unnecessary bruises?
Who has bloodshot eyes?
30 It is people who drink too much wine,
who try out all different kinds of strong drinks.
31 Don’t stare at the wine when it is red,
when it sparkles in the cup,
when it goes down smoothly.
32 Later it bites like a snake
with poison in its fangs.
33 Your eyes will see strange sights,
and your mind will be confused.
34 You will feel dizzy as if you’re in a storm on the ocean,
as if you’re on top of a ship’s sails.
35 You will think, “They hit me, but I’m not hurt.
They beat me up, but I don’t remember it.
I wish I could wake up.
Then I would get another drink.”
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.
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.
Ang Bagong Tipan: Filipino Standard Version, Copyright © Philippine Bible Society 2009.
