Proverbs 23
1When thou sittest to eat with a ruler, 1 Consider diligently what is before thee: 1
2And put a knife to thy throat, 1 If thou be a man given to appetite. 1
3Be not desirous of his dainties: 1 For they are deceitful meat. 1
4Labour not to be rich: 1 Cease from thine own wisdom. 1
5Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not? 1 For riches certainly make themselves wings; 1 They fly away as an eagle toward heaven. 1
6Eat thou not the bread of him that hath an evil eye, 1 Neither desire thou his dainty meats: 1
7For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: 1 Eat and drink, saith he to thee; 1 But his heart is not with thee. 1
8The morsel which thou hast eaten shalt thou vomit up, 1 And lose thy sweet words. 1
9Speak not in the ears of a fool: 1 For he will despise the wisdom of thy words. 1
10Remove not the old landmark; 1 And enter not into the fields of the fatherless: 1
11For their Redeemer is mighty; 1 He shall plead their cause with thee. 1
12Apply thine heart unto instruction, 1 And thine ears to the words of knowledge. 1
13Withhold not correction from the child: 1 For if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die. 1
14Thou shalt beat him with the rod, 1 And shalt deliver his soul from hell. 1
15My son, if thine heart be wise, 1 My heart shall rejoice, even mine. 1
16Yea, my reins shall rejoice, 1 When thy lips speak right things. 1
17Let not thine heart envy sinners: 1 But be thou in the fear of the Lord all the day long. 1
18For surely there is an end; 1 And thine expectation shall not be cut off. 1
19Hear thou, my son, and be wise, 1 And guide thine heart in the way. 1
20Be not amongst winebibbers; 1 Amongst riotous eaters of flesh: 1
21For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty: 1 And drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags. 1
22Hearken unto thy father that begat thee, 1 And despise not thy mother when she is old. 1
23Buy the truth, and sell it not; 1 Also wisdom, and instruction, and understanding. 1
24The father of the righteous shall greatly rejoice: 1 And he that begetteth a wise child shall have joy of him. 1
25Thy father and thy mother shall be glad, 1 And she that bare thee shall rejoice. 1
26My son, give me thine heart, 1 And let thine eyes observe my ways. 1
27For a whore is a deep ditch; 1 And a strange woman is a narrow pit. 1
28She also lieth in wait as for a prey, 1 And increaseth the transgressors among men. 1
29Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? 1 Who hath contentions? who hath babbling? 1 Who hath wounds without cause? 1 Who hath redness of eyes? 1
30They that tarry long at the wine; 1 They that go to seek mixt wine. 1
31Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, 1 When it giveth his colour in the cup, 1 When it moveth itself aright. 1
32At the last it biteth like a serpent, 1 And stingeth like an adder. 1
33Thine eyes shall behold strange women, 1 And thine heart shall utter perverse things. 1
34Yea, thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea, 1 Or as he that lieth upon the top of a mast. 1
35They have stricken me, shalt thou say, and I was not sick; 1 They have beaten me, and I felt it not: 1 When shall I awake? 1 I will seek it yet again.