Proverbs 23

1When you sit down to dine with a ruler,Consider well who is before you.

2Thrust a knife into your gulletIf you have a large appetite.

3Do not crave the dainties,For they are counterfeit food.

4Do not toil to gain wealth;Have the sense to desist.

5You see it, then it is gone;It grows wings and flies away,Like an eagle, heavenward.

6Do not eat of a miser’s food;Do not crave for his dainties;

7He is like one keeping accounts;“Eat and drink,” he says to you,But he does not really mean it.

8The morsel you eat you will vomit;You will waste your courteous words.

9Do not speak to a dullard—Who will disdain your sensible words.

10Do not remove ancient boundary stones;Do not encroach upon the field of orphans,

11For they have a mighty Redeemer,Who will surely take up their cause with you.

12Apply your mind to disciplineAnd your ears to wise sayings.

13Do not withhold discipline from children;If you beat them with a rod they will not die.

14Beat them with a rodAnd you will save them from the grave.

15My son, if your mind gets wisdom,My mind, too, will be gladdened.

16I shall rejoice with all my heart When your lips speak right things.

17Do not envy sinners in your heart,But only those who fear GOD, at all times,

18For then you will have a future,And your hope will never fail.

19Listen, my son, and get wisdom;Lead your mind in a [proper] path.

20Do not be of those who guzzle wine,Or glut themselves on meat,

21For guzzlers and gluttons will be impoverished,And drowsing will clothe you in tatters.

22Listen to your father who begot you;Do not disdain your mother when she is old.

23Buy truth and never sell it,And wisdom, discipline, and understanding.

24The father of a righteous person will exult;He who begets a wise child will rejoice in them.

25Your father and mother will rejoice;She who bore you will exult.

26Give your mind to me, my son;Let your eyes watch my ways.

27A prostitute is a deep pit;A forbidden woman is a narrow well.

28She too lies in wait as if for prey,And destroys the unfaithful among men.

29Who cries, “Woe!” who, “Alas!”;Who has quarrels, who complaints;Who has wounds without cause;Who has bleary eyes?

30Those whom wine keeps till the small hours,Those who gather to drain the cups.

31Do not ogle that red wineAs it lends its color to the cup,As it flows on smoothly;

32In the end, it bites like a snake;It spits like a basilisk.

33Your eyes will see strange sights;Your heart will speak distorted things.

34You will be like one lying in bed on high seas,Like one lying on top of the rigging.

35“They struck me, but I felt no hurt;They beat me, but I was unaware;As often as I wake,I go after it again.”