Proverbs 23:1-35

23:1 When you sit down to eat with a ruler,

consider carefully what is before you,

23:2 and put a knife to your throat

if you possess a large appetite.

23:3 Do not crave that ruler’s delicacies,

for that food is deceptive.

23:4 Do not wear yourself out to become rich;

be wise enough to restrain yourself.

23:5 When you gaze upon riches, they are gone,

for they surely make wings for themselves,

and fly off into the sky like an eagle!

23:6 Do not eat the food of a stingy person,

do not crave his delicacies;

23:7 for he is like someone calculating the cost in his mind.

“Eat and drink,” he says to you,

but his heart is not with you;

23:8 you will vomit up the little bit you have eaten,

and will have wasted your pleasant words.

23:9 Do not speak in the ears of a fool,

for he will despise the wisdom of your words.

23:10 Do not move an ancient boundary stone,

or take over the fields of the fatherless,

23:11 for their Protector is strong;

he will plead their case against you.

23:12 Apply your heart to instruction

and your ears to the words of knowledge.

23:13 Do not withhold discipline from a child;

even if you strike him with the rod, he will not die.

23:14 If you strike him with the rod,

you will deliver him from death.

23:15 My child, if your heart is wise,

then my heart also will be glad;

23:16 my soul will rejoice

when your lips speak what is right.

23:17 Do not let your heart envy sinners,

but rather be zealous in fearing the Lord all the time.

23:18 For surely there is a future,

and your hope will not be cut off.

23:19 Listen, my child, and be wise,

and guide your heart on the right way.

23:20 Do not spend time among drunkards,

among those who eat too much meat,

23:21 because drunkards and gluttons become impoverished,

and drowsiness clothes them with rags.

23:22 Listen to your father who begot you,

and do not despise your mother when she is old.

23:23 Acquire truth and do not sell it –

wisdom, and discipline, and understanding.

23:24 The father of a righteous person will rejoice greatly;

whoever fathers a wise child will have joy in him.

23:25 May your father and your mother have joy;

may she who bore you rejoice.

23:26 Give me your heart, my son,

and let your eyes observe my ways;

23:27 for a prostitute is like a deep pit;

a harlot is like a narrow well.

23:28 Indeed, she lies in wait like a robber,

and increases the unfaithful among men.

23:29 Who has woe? Who has sorrow?

Who has contentions? Who has complaints?

Who has wounds without cause? Who has dullness of the eyes?

23:30 Those who linger over wine,

those who go looking for mixed wine.

23:31 Do not look on the wine when it is red,

when it sparkles in the cup,

when it goes down smoothly.

23:32 Afterward it bites like a snake,

and stings like a viper.

23:33 Your eyes will see strange things,

and your mind will speak perverse things.

23:34 And you will be like one who lies down in the midst of the sea,

and like one who lies down on the top of the rigging.

23:35 You will say, “They have struck me, but I am not harmed!

They beat me, but I did not know it!

When will I awake? I will look for another drink.”