Proverbs 23  Holman Christian Standard Bible

23 When you sit down to dine with a ruler,
consider carefully what^[a] is before you,
² and put a knife to your throat
if you have a big^[b] appetite;
³ don’t desire his choice food,^(A)
for that food is deceptive.

⁴ Don’t wear yourself out to get rich;^(B)
stop giving your attention to it.
⁵ As soon as your eyes fly to it, it disappears,^(C)
for it makes wings for itself
and flies like an eagle to the sky.

⁶ Don’t eat a stingy person’s bread,^[c](D)
and don’t desire his choice food,^(E)
7 for it’s like someone calculating inwardly.^[d](F)
“Eat and drink,” he says to you,
but his heart is not with you.^(G)
8 You will vomit the little you’ve eaten
and waste your pleasant words.

⁹ Don’t speak to^[e] a fool,
for he will despise the insight of your words.^(H)

¹⁰ Don’t move an ancient boundary marker,^(I)
and don’t encroach on the fields of the fatherless,
¹¹ for their Redeemer is strong,^(J)
and He will take up their case against you.^(K)

¹² Apply yourself to discipline
and listen to words of knowledge.

¹³ Don’t withhold discipline from a youth;
if you beat him with a rod, he will not die.^(L)
14 Strike him with a rod,
and you will rescue his life from Sheol.^(M)

¹⁵ My son, if your heart is wise,
my heart will indeed rejoice.^(N)
16 My innermost being will cheer
when your lips say what is right.^(O)

¹⁷ Don’t let your heart envy sinners;^(P)
instead, always fear the Lord.^(Q)
18 For then you will have a future,
and your hope will never fade.^(R)

¹⁹ Listen, my son, and be wise;
keep your mind on the right course.
²⁰ Don’t associate with those who drink too much wine^(S)
or with those who gorge themselves on meat.^(T)
21 For the drunkard and the glutton will become poor,
and grogginess will clothe them in rags.^(U)

²² Listen to your father who gave you life,
and don’t despise your mother when^[f] she is old.^(V)
23 Buy—and do not sell—truth,
wisdom, instruction, and understanding.^(W)
24 The father of a righteous son will rejoice greatly,
and one who fathers a wise son will delight in him.^(X)
25 Let your father and mother have joy,^(Y)
and let her who gave birth to you rejoice.

²⁶ My son, give me your heart,
and let your eyes observe my ways.
²⁷ For a prostitute is a deep pit,^(Z)
and a stranger is a narrow well;
²⁸ indeed, she sets an ambush like a robber^(AA)
and increases those among men who are unfaithful.

²⁹ Who has woe? Who has sorrow?
Who has conflicts? Who has complaints?
Who has wounds for no reason?^(AB)
Who has red eyes?
³⁰ Those who linger over wine,
those who go looking for mixed wine.^(AC)
31 Don’t gaze at wine because it is red,^(AD)
when it gleams in the cup
and goes down smoothly.^(AE)
32 In the end it bites like a snake
and stings like a viper.
³³ Your eyes will see strange things,
and you will say absurd things.^[g](AF)
34 You’ll be like someone sleeping out at sea
or lying down on the top of a ship’s mast.
³⁵ “They struck me, but^[h] I feel no pain!
They beat me, but I didn’t know it!^(AG)
When will I wake up?
I’ll look for another drink.”^(AH)