Proverbs 23 / 31
- 1
When you sit down to eat with a ruler,
observe carefully what is before you,
- 2
and put a knife to your throat
if you are given to appetite.
- 3
Do not desire his delicacies,
for they are deceptive food.
- 4
Do not toil to acquire wealth;
be discerning enough to desist.
- 5
When your eyes light on it, it is gone,
for suddenly it sprouts wings,
flying like an eagle toward heaven.
- 6
Do not eat the bread of a man who is stingy;
do not desire his delicacies,
- 7
for he is like one who is inwardly calculating.
"Eat and drink!" he says to you,
but his 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
Do not move an ancient landmark
or enter the fields of the fatherless,
- 11
for their Redeemer is strong;
he will plead their cause against you.
- 12
Apply your heart to instruction
and your ear to words of knowledge.
- 13
Do not withhold discipline from a child;
if you strike him with a rod, he will not die.
- 14
If you strike him with the rod,
you will save his soul from Sheol.
- 15
My son, if your heart is wise,
my heart too will be glad.
- 16
My inmost being will exult
when your lips speak what is right.
- 17
Let not your heart envy sinners,
but continue in the fear of the Lord all the day.
- 18
Surely there is a future,
and your hope will not be cut off.
- 19
Hear, my son, and be wise,
and direct your heart in the way.
- 20
Be not among drunkards
or among gluttonous eaters of meat,
- 21
for the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty,
and slumber will clothe them with rags.
- 22
Listen to your father who gave you life,
and do not despise your mother when she is old.
- 23
Buy truth, and do not sell it;
buy wisdom, instruction, and understanding.
- 24
The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice;
he who fathers a wise son will be glad in him.
- 25
Let your father and mother be glad;
let her who bore you rejoice.
- 26
My son, give me your heart,
and let your eyes observe my ways.
- 27
For a prostitute is a deep pit;
an adulteress is a narrow well.
- 28
She lies in wait like a robber
and increases the traitors among mankind.
- 29
Who has woe? Who has sorrow?
Who has strife? Who has complaining?
Who has wounds without cause?
Who has redness of eyes?
- 30
Those who tarry long over wine;
those who go to try mixed wine.
- 31
Do not look at wine when it is red,
when it sparkles in the cup
and goes down smoothly.
- 32
In the end it bites like a serpent
and stings like an adder.
- 33
Your eyes will see strange things,
and your heart utter perverse things.
- 34
You will be like one who lies down in the midst of the sea,
like one who lies on the top of a mast.
- 35
"They struck me," you will say, "but I was not hurt;
they beat me, but I did not feel it.
When shall I awake?
I must have another drink."