Proverbs 23
23
1When you sit down to dine with a ruler,
consider carefully what#23:1 Or who is before you,
2and put a knife to your throat
if you have a big#23:2 Lit you are the master of an appetite;
3don’t desire his choice food,#Gn 27:4; Pr 23:6; Dn 1:8
for that food is deceptive.
4Don’t wear yourself out to get rich;#Pr 15:27; 28:20; Mt 6:19; 1Tm 6:9–10; Heb 13:5
because you know better, stop!
5As soon as your eyes fly to it, it disappears,#Pr 27:24
for it makes wings for itself
and flies like an eagle to the sky.
6Don’t eat a stingy person’s bread,#23:6 Lit eat bread of an evil eye#Dt 15:9; Pr 28:22; Mt 6:23
and don’t desire his choice food,#Pr 23:3
7for it’s like someone calculating inwardly.#23:7 LXX reads it is like someone swallowing a hair in the throat#Mt 6:21; Lk 12:34
“Eat and drink,” he says to you,
but his heart is not with you.#Pr 26:24–25
8You will vomit the little you’ve eaten
and waste your pleasant words.
9Don’t speak to#23:9 Lit in the ears of a fool,
for he will despise the insight of your words.#Mt 7:6
10Don’t move an ancient boundary marker,#Pr 22:28
and don’t encroach on the fields of the fatherless,
11for their Redeemer is strong,#Jr 50:34
and he will champion their cause against you.#Pr 22:22–23
12Apply yourself to discipline
and listen to words of knowledge.
13Don’t withhold discipline from a youth;
if you punish him with a rod, he will not die.#Pr 13:24; 19:18; 22:15
14Punish him with a rod,
and you will rescue his life from Sheol.#1Co 5:5
15My son, if your heart is wise,
my heart will indeed rejoice.#Pr 10:1; 15:20; 23:24–25; 29:3
16My innermost being will celebrate
when your lips say what is right.#Pr 8:6
17Don’t let your heart envy sinners;#Ps 37:1; Pr 24:1,19
instead, always fear the Lord.#Pr 28:14
18For then you will have a future,
and your hope will not be dashed.#Ps 9:18; Pr 10:28; 24:14; Jr 29:11
19Listen, my son, and be wise;
keep your mind on the right course.
20Don’t associate with those who drink too much wine#Pr 20:1; 23:29–30; Is 5:22; Mt 24:49; Lk 21:34; Rm 13:13; Eph 5:18
or with those who gorge themselves on meat.#Pr 28:7
21For the drunkard and the glutton will become poor,
and grogginess will clothe them in rags.#Pr 6:10–11
22Listen to your father who gave you life,
and don’t despise your mother when#23:22 Or because she is old.#Pr 1:8; 15:20; Eph 6:1
23Buy — and do not sell — truth,
wisdom, instruction, and understanding.#Pr 4:5,7; 16:16; 18:15; Mt 13:44
24The father of a righteous son will rejoice greatly,
and one who fathers a wise son will delight in him.#Pr 10:1; 23:15; 29:3
25Let your father and mother have joy,#Pr 27:11
and let her who gave birth to you rejoice.
26My son, give me your heart,
and let your eyes observe my ways.
27For a prostitute is a deep pit,#Pr 22:14
and a wayward woman is a narrow well;
28indeed, she sets an ambush like a robber#Pr 6:26; 7:12,22–23; Ec 7:26
and increases the number of unfaithful people.
29Who has woe? Who has sorrow?
Who has conflicts? Who has complaints?
Who has wounds for no reason?#Pr 23:35
Who has red eyes?
30Those who linger over wine;
those who go looking for mixed wine.#Is 5:11,22
31Don’t gaze at wine because it is red,#Eph 5:18
because it gleams in the cup
and goes down smoothly.#Sg 7:9
32In the end it bites like a snake
and stings like a viper.
33Your eyes will see strange things,
and you will say absurd things.#23:33 Or will speak perversities, or inverted things#Is 28:7
34You’ll be like someone sleeping out at sea
or lying down on the top of a ship’s mast.
35“They struck me, but#23:35 LXX, Syr, Tg, Vg read me,” you will say, “but I feel no pain!
They beat me, but I didn’t know it!#Pr 23:29; Jr 5:3
When will I wake up?
I’ll look for another drink.”#Is 56:12
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Proverbs 23: CSB
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