Proverbs 23

1When you sit down to eat with a ruler, consider carefully what is before you,

2and put a knife to your throat if you have a big appetite.

3Do not crave his delicacies, for that food is deceptive.

4Do not wear yourself out to get rich; have the sense to stop.

5When you set your eyes on it, it is gone, for it will surely make itself wings and fly off to the sky like an eagle.

6Do not eat the food of a stingy person, and do not crave his delicacies,

7for he is the kind who is always counting the cost. “Eat and drink,” he says to you, but his heart is not with you.

8You will vomit up the bit you have eaten and waste your pleasant words.

9Do not speak in the hearing of a fool, for he will despise the good sense of your words.

10Do not move an ancient boundary stone or go into the fields of the fatherless,

11for their redeemer is strong; he will plead their case against you.

12Apply your heart to instruction and your ears to words of knowledge.

13Do not hold back discipline from a child; if you strike him with the rod, he will not die.

14Strike him with the rod yourself, and you will rescue his soul from Sheol.

15My son, if your heart is wise, my own heart will be glad too.

16My inmost being will rejoice when your lips speak what is right.

17Do not let your heart envy sinners; instead, live in the fear of Yahweh all day long.

18Surely there is a future, and your hope will not be cut off.

19Listen, my son, and be wise, and keep your heart on the right path.

20Do not be among those who drink too much wine or those who gorge themselves on meat,

21for the drunkard and the glutton will become poor, and drowsiness will clothe them in rags.

22Listen to your father, who gave you life, and do not despise your mother when she is old.

23Buy truth and do not sell it—wisdom, instruction, and understanding.

24The father of a righteous person will rejoice greatly; whoever fathers a wise child will be glad in him.

25Let your father and your mother be glad; let her who gave birth to you rejoice.

26My son, give me your heart, and let your eyes keep to my ways.

27For a prostitute is a deep pit, and a foreign woman is a narrow well.

28She lies in wait like a robber and increases the number of the unfaithful among men.

29Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has quarrels? Who has complaints? Who has wounds for no reason? Who has bloodshot eyes?

30Those who linger over wine, who go looking for mixed wine.

31Do not gaze at wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup and goes down smoothly.

32In the end it bites like a snake and stings like a viper.

33Your eyes will see strange things, and your heart will speak twisted things.

34You will be like someone lying down in the middle of the sea, like someone lying on top of a mast.

35“They hit me, but I was not hurt; they beat me, but I did not feel it. When will I wake up? I will go looking for it again.”