Proverbs 23 — ASVBT

23Verse 1When thou sittest to eat with a ruler,
Consider diligently him that is before thee;
^{Verse 2}And put a knife to thy throat,
If thou be a man given to appetite.
^{Verse 3}Be not desirous of his dainties;
Seeing they are deceitful food.
^{Verse 4}Weary not thyself to be rich;
Cease from thine own wisdom.
^{Verse 5}Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not?
For riches certainly make themselves wings,
Like an eagle that flieth toward heaven.
^{Verse 6}Eat thou not the bread of him that hath an evil eye,
Neither desire thou his dainties:
^{Verse 7}For as he thinketh within himself, so is he:
Eat and drink, saith he to thee;
But his heart is not with thee.
^{Verse 8}The morsel which thou hast eaten shalt thou vomit up,
And lose thy sweet words.
^{Verse 9}Speak not in the hearing of a fool;
For he will despise the wisdom of thy words.
^{Verse 10}Remove not the ancient landmark;
And enter not into the fields of the fatherless:
^{Verse 11}For their Redeemer is strong;
He will plead their cause against thee.
^{Verse 12}Apply thy heart unto instruction,
And thine ears to the words of knowledge.
^{Verse 13}Withhold not correction from the child;
For if thou beat him with the rod, he will not die.
^{Verse 14}Thou shalt beat him with the rod,
And shalt deliver his soul from Sheol.
^{Verse 15}My son, if thy heart be wise,
My heart will be glad, even mine:
^{Verse 16}Yea, my heart will rejoice,
When thy lips speak right things.
^{Verse 17}Let not thy heart envy sinners;
But be thou in the fear of Jehovah all the day long:
^{Verse 18}For surely there is a reward;
And thy hope shall not be cut off.
^{Verse 19}Hear thou, my son, and be wise,
And guide thy heart in the way.
^{Verse 20}Be not among winebibbers,
Among gluttonous eaters of flesh:
^{Verse 21}For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty;
And drowsiness will clothe a man with rags.
^{Verse 22}Hearken unto thy father that begat thee,
And despise not thy mother when she is old.
^{Verse 23}Buy the truth, and sell it not;
Yea, wisdom, and instruction, and understanding.
^{Verse 24}The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice;
And he that begetteth a wise child will have joy of him.
^{Verse 25}Let thy father and thy mother be glad,
And let her that bare thee rejoice.
^{Verse 26}My son, give me thy heart;
And let thine eyes delight in my ways.
^{Verse 27}For a harlot is a deep ditch;
And a foreign woman is a narrow pit.
^{Verse 28}Yea, she lieth in wait as a robber,
And increaseth the treacherous among men.
^{Verse 29}Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions?
Who hath complaining? who hath wounds without cause?
Who hath redness of eyes?
^{Verse 30}They that tarry long at the wine;
They that go to seek out mixed wine.
^{Verse 31}Look not thou upon the wine when it is red,
When it sparkleth in the cup,
When it goeth down smoothly:
^{Verse 32}At the last it biteth like a serpent,
And stingeth like an adder.
^{Verse 33}Thine eyes shall behold strange things,
And thy heart shall utter perverse things.
^{Verse 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.
^{Verse 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.