Proverbs 23 (New American Standard)

On Life and Conduct

1 When you sit down to dine with a ruler, Consider carefully ^awhat is before you, 2 And put a knife to your throat If you are a ¹man of great appetite. 3 Do not ²desire his delicacies, For it is deceptive food. 4 ³Do not weary yourself to gain wealth, ⁴Cease from your ^bconsideration of it. 5 ^cWhen you set your eyes on it, it is gone. For ⁵wealth certainly makes itself wings Like an eagle that flies toward the heavens. 6 ⁶Do not eat the bread of ^da ⁷selfish man, Or desire his delicacies ; 7 For as he ^ethinks within himself, so he is. He says to you, "Eat and drink !" But ⁸his heart is not with you. 8 You will ⁹vomit up ^fthe morsel you have eaten, And waste your ^gcompliments. 9 ¹⁰Do not speak in the ^hhearing of a fool, For he will ¹¹despise the wisdom of your words. 10 Do not move the ancient boundary Or ¹²go into the fields of the fatherless, 11 For their ¹³Redeemer is strong ; ¹⁴He will plead their case against you. 12 Apply your heart to discipline And your ears to words of knowledge. 13 ¹⁵Do not hold back discipline from the child, Although you ⁱstrike him with the rod, he will not die. 14 You shall ^jstrike him with the rod And ¹⁶rescue his soul from Sheol. 15 My son, if your heart is ¹⁷wise, My own heart also will be glad ; 16 And my ^kinmost being will rejoice When your lips speak ¹⁸what is right. 17 ¹⁹Do not let your heart envy sinners, But live in the ^l20fear of the LORD ^malways . 18 Surely there is a ⁿ²¹future, And your ²²hope will not be cut off. 19 Listen, my son, and ²³be wise, And ²⁴direct your heart in the way. 20 Do not be with ²⁵heavy drinkers of wine, Or with ²⁶gluttonous eaters of meat ; 21 For the ²⁷heavy drinker and the glutton will come to poverty, And ²⁸drowsiness will clothe one with rags. 22 ²⁹Listen to your father who begot you, And ³⁰do not despise your mother when she is old. 23 ³¹Buy truth, and do not sell it, Get wisdom and instruction and understanding. 24 The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice, And ³²he who sires a wise son will be glad in him. 25 Let your ³³father and your mother be glad, And let her rejoice who gave birth to you. 26 ³⁴Give me your heart, my son, And let your eyes ^o35delight in my ways. 27 For a harlot is a ³⁶deep pit And an ^p37adulterous woman is a narrow well. 28 Surely she ³⁸lurks as a robber, And increases the ^qfaithless among men. 29 Who has ³⁹woe ? Who has sorrow ? Who has contentions ? Who has complaining ? Who has wounds without cause ? Who has redness of eyes ? 30 Those who ⁴⁰linger long over wine, Those who go to ^rtaste ⁴¹mixed wine. 31 Do not look on the wine when it is red, When it ^ssparkles in the cup, When it ⁴²goes down smoothly ; 32 At the last it ⁴³bites like a serpent And stings like a ⁴⁴viper. 33 Your eyes will see strange things And your ^tmind will ⁴⁵utter perverse things. 34 And you will be like one who lies down in the ^umiddle of the sea, Or like one who lies down on the top of a ^vmast. 35 "They ⁴⁶struck me, but I did not become ^will ; They beat me, but I did not know it. When shall I awake ? I will ⁴⁷seek ^xanother drink."