Proverbs 23:1-35

Proverbs 23:1-35

[1]WHEN YOU sit down to eat with a ruler, consider who and what are before you; [2]For you will put a knife to your throat if you are a man given to desire. [3]Be not desirous of his dainties, for it is deceitful food [offered with questionable motives]. [4]Weary not yourself to be rich; cease from your own [human] wisdom. [Prov. 28:20; I Tim. 6:9, 10.] [5]Will you set your eyes upon wealth, when [suddenly] it is gone? For riches certainly make themselves wings, like an eagle that flies toward the heavens. [6]Eat not the bread of him who has a hard, grudging, and envious eye, neither desire his dainty foods; [7]For as he thinks in his heart, so is he. As one who reckons, he says to you, eat and drink, yet his heart is not with you [but is grudging the cost]. [8]The morsel which you have eaten you will vomit up, and your complimentary words will be wasted. [9]Speak not in the ears of a [self-confident] fool, for he will despise the [godly] Wisdom of your words. [Isa. 32:6.] [10]Remove not the ancient landmark and enter not into the fields of the fatherless, [Deut. 19:14; 27:17; Prov. 22:28.] [11]For their Redeemer is mighty; He will plead their cause against you. [12]Apply your mind to instruction and correction and your ears to words of knowledge.

[13]Withhold not discipline from the child; for if you strike and punish him with the [reedlike] rod, he will not die. [14]You shall whip him with the rod and deliver his life from Sheol (Hades, the place of the dead).

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[15]My son, if your heart is wise, my heart will be glad, even mine;

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[16]Yes, my heart will rejoice when your lips speak right things.

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[17]Let not your heart envy sinners, but continue in the reverent and worshipful fear of the Lord all the day long. [18]For surely there is a latter end [a future and a reward], and your hope and expectation shall not be cut off. [19]Hear, my son, and be wise, and direct your mind in the way [of the Lord]. [20]Do not associate with winebibbers; be not among them nor among gluttonous eaters of meat, [Isa. 5:22; Luke 21:34; Rom. 13:13; Eph. 5:18.] [21]For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty, and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags. [22]Hearken to your father, who begot you, and despise not your mother when she is old. [23]Buy the truth and sell it not; not only that, but also get discernment and judgment, instruction and understanding. [24]The father of the [uncompromisingly] righteous (the upright, in right standing with God) shall greatly rejoice, and he who becomes the father of a wise child shall have joy in him. [25]Let your father and your mother be glad, and let her who bore you rejoice. [26]My son, give me your heart and let your eyes observe and delight in my ways, [27]For a harlot is a deep ditch, and a loose woman is a narrow pit. [28]She also lies in wait as a robber or as one waits for prey, and she increases the treacherous among men. [29]Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has strife? Who has complaining? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness and dimness of eyes? [30]Those who tarry long at the wine, those who go to seek and try mixed wine. [Prov. 20:1; Eph. 5:18.] [31]Do not look at wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the wineglass, when it goes down smoothly. [32]At the last it bites like a serpent and stings like an adder. [33][Under the influence of wine] your eyes will behold strange things [and loose women] and your mind will utter things turned the wrong way [untrue, incorrect, and petulant]. [34]Yes, you will be [as unsteady] as he who lies down in the midst of the sea, and [as open to disaster] as he who lies upon the top of a mast. [35]You will say, They struck me, but I was not hurt! They beat me [as with a hammer], but I did not feel it! When shall I awake? I will crave and seek more wine again [and escape reality].