Proverbs 23
23
On Life and Conduct
1When you sit down to dine with a ruler,
Consider carefully #23:1 Or whowhat is before you,
2And put a knife to your throat
If you are a person of great appetite.
3Do not desire his delicacies,
For it is deceptive food.
4¶Do not weary yourself to gain wealth;
# 23:4 Lit Refrain from your understanding of it Stop dwelling on it.
5 # 23:5 Lit Will your eyes fly upon it and it is not? When you set your eyes on it, it is gone.
For wealth certainly makes itself wings
Like an eagle that flies toward the heavens.
6¶Do not eat the bread of #23:6 Lit an evil eyea selfish person;
Or desire his delicacies;
7For as he #23:7 Lit reckons in his soulthinks within himself, so he is.
He says to you, “Eat and drink!”
But his heart is not with you.
8You will vomit up #23:8 Lit yourthe morsel you have eaten
And waste your #23:8 Lit pleasant wordscompliments.
9¶Do not speak #23:9 Lit in the ears of ato be heard by a fool,
For he will despise the wisdom of your words.
10¶Do not move the ancient boundary
Or go into the fields of the fatherless,
11For their Redeemer is strong;
He will plead their case against you.
12Apply your heart to discipline,
And your ears to words of knowledge.
13¶Do not withhold discipline from a child;
Though you strike him with the rod, he will not die.
14You shall strike him with the rod
And rescue his soul from Sheol.
15¶My son, if your heart is wise,
My own heart also will be glad,
16And my #23:16 Lit kidneysinnermost being will rejoice
When your lips speak what is right.
17¶Do not let your heart envy sinners,
But live in #23:17 Or reverence forthe fear of the Lord #23:17 Lit all the dayalways.
18Certainly there is a #23:18 Lit latter endfuture,
And your hope will not be cut off.
19Listen, my son, and be wise,
And direct your heart in the way.
20Do not be with heavy drinkers of wine,
Or with gluttonous eaters of meat;
21For the heavy drinker and the glutton will come to poverty,
And drowsiness will clothe one with rags.
22¶Listen to your father, who fathered you,
And do not despise your mother when she is old.
23Buy truth, and do not sell it,
Get wisdom, instruction, and understanding.
24¶The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice,
And he who fathers a wise son will be glad in him.
25Let your father and your mother be glad,
And let her rejoice who gave birth to you.
26¶Give me your heart, my son,
And let your eyes #23:26 Another reading is observedelight in my ways.
27For a prostitute is a deep pit,
And a #23:27 Lit foreignstrange woman is a narrow well.
28Certainly she lurks as a robber,
And increases the treacherous among mankind.
29¶Who has woe? Who has sorrow?
Who has contentions? Who has complaining?
Who has wounds without cause?
Who has red eyes?
30Those who linger long over wine,
Those who go to #23:30 Or search outtaste mixed wine.
31Do not look at wine when it is red,
When it #23:31 Lit gives its eyesparkles in the cup,
When it goes down smoothly;
32In the end it bites like a snake
And stings like a viper.
33Your eyes will see strange things
And your #23:33 Lit heartmind will say perverse things.
34And you will be like one who lies down in the #23:34 Lit heartmiddle of the sea,
Or like one who lies down on the top of a #23:34 Or lookoutmast.
35“They struck me, but I did not become #23:35 I.e., from the effect of woundsill;
They beat me, but I did not know it.
When will I awake?
I will seek #23:35 Lit it yet againanother drink.”
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Proverbs 23: NASB2020
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