NASB77 Proverbs 23 Chapter
23:1
When you sit down to dine with a ruler, Consider carefully what is before you;
23:2
And put a knife to your throat, If you are a man of [great] appetite.
23:3
Do not desire his delicacies, For it is deceptive food.
23:4
Do not weary yourself to gain wealth, Cease from your consideration [of it].
23:5
When you set your eyes on it, it is gone. For [wealth] certainly makes itself wings, Like an eagle that flies [toward] the heavens.
23:6
Do not eat the bread of a selfish man, Or desire his delicacies;
23:7
For as he thinks within himself, so he is. He says to you, "Eat and drink!" But his heart is not with you.
23:8
You will vomit up the morsel you have eaten, And waste your compliments.
23:9
Do not speak in the hearing of a fool, For he will despise the wisdom of your words.
23:10
Do not move the ancient boundary, Or go into the fields of the fatherless;
23:11
For their Redeemer is strong; He will plead their case against you.
23:12
Apply your heart to discipline, And your ears to words of knowledge.
23:13
Do not hold back discipline from the child, Although you beat him with the rod, he will not die.
23:14
You shall beat him with the rod, And deliver his soul from Sheol.
23:15
My son, if your heart is wise, My own heart also will be glad;
23:16
And my inmost being will rejoice, When your lips speak what is right.
23:17
Do not let your heart envy sinners, But [live] in the fear of the LORD always.
23:18
Surely there is a future, And your hope will not be cut off.
23:19
Listen, my son, and be wise, And direct your heart in the way.
23:20
Do not be with heavy drinkers of wine, [Or] with gluttonous eaters of meat;
23:21
For the heavy drinker and the glutton will come to poverty, And drowsiness will clothe [a man] with rags.
23:22
Listen to your father who begot you, And do not despise your mother when she is old.
23:23
Buy truth, and do not sell [it], [Get] wisdom and instruction and understanding.
23:24
The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice, And he who begets a wise son will be glad in him.
23:25
Let your father and your mother be glad, And let her rejoice who gave birth to you.
23:26
Give me your heart, my son, And let your eyes delight in my ways.
23:27
For a harlot is a deep pit, And an adulterous woman is a narrow well.
23:28
Surely she lurks as a robber, And increases the faithless among men.
23:29
Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has complaining? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes?
23:30
Those who linger long over wine, Those who go to taste 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
At the last it bites like a serpent, And stings like a viper.
23:33
Your eyes will see strange things, And your mind will utter perverse things.
23:34
And you will be like one who lies down in the middle of the sea, Or like one who lies down on the top of a mast.
23:35
"They struck me, [but] I did not become ill; They beat me, [but] I did not know [it]. When shall I awake? I will seek another drink."