Proverbs 23
23
1When you sit down to dine with a ruler,
consider carefully what # Or who is before you,
2and put a knife to your throat
if you have a big # 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
stop giving your attention to it.
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, # 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. # 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 # 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 take up their case 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 beat him with a rod, he will not die. # Pr 13:24; 19:18; 22:15
14Strike 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 cheer
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 never fade. # 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 # 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 stranger is a narrow well;
28indeed, she sets an ambush like a robber # Pr 6:26; 7:12,22-23; Ec 7:26
and increases those among men who are unfaithful.
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
when 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. # 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 # 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: HCSB
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