Proverbs 23:1–35

¹ When you sit down to dine with a ruler, consider carefully what is set before you, ² and put a knife to your throat if you possess a great appetite. ³ Do not crave his delicacies, for that food is deceptive. ⁴ Do not wear yourself out to get rich; be wise enough to restrain yourself. ⁵ When you glance at wealth, it disappears, for it makes wings for itself and flies like an eagle to the sky. ⁶ Do not eat the bread of a stingy man, and do not crave his delicacies; ⁷ for he is keeping track, inwardly counting the cost. “Eat and drink,” he says to you, but his heart is not with you. ⁸ You will vomit up what little you have eaten and waste your pleasant words. ⁹ Do not speak to a fool, for he will despise the wisdom of your words. ¹⁰ Do not move an ancient boundary stone or encroach on the fields of the fatherless, ¹¹ for their Redeemer is strong; He will take up their case against you. ¹² Apply your heart to instruction and your ears to words of knowledge. ¹³ Do not withhold discipline from a child; although you strike him with a rod, he will not die. ¹⁴ Strike him with a rod, and you will deliver his soul from Sheol. ¹⁵ My son, if your heart is wise, my own heart will indeed rejoice. ¹⁶ My inmost being will rejoice when your lips speak what is right. ¹⁷ Do not let your heart envy sinners, but always continue in the fear of the LORD. ¹⁸ For surely there is a future, and your hope will not be cut off. ¹⁹ Listen, my son, and be wise, and guide your heart on the right course. ²⁰ Do not join those who drink too much wine or gorge themselves on meat. ²¹ For the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty, and drowsiness will clothe them in rags. ²² Listen to your father who gave you life, and do not despise your mother when she is old. ²³ Invest in truth and never sell it— in wisdom and instruction and understanding. ²⁴ The father of a righteous man will greatly rejoice, and he who fathers a wise son will delight in him. ²⁵ May your father and mother be glad, and may she who gave you birth rejoice! ²⁶ My son, give me your heart, and let your eyes delight in my ways. ²⁷ For a prostitute is a deep pit, and an adulteress is a narrow well. ²⁸ Like a robber she lies in wait and multiplies the faithless among men. ²⁹ Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has complaints? Who has needless wounds? Who has bloodshot eyes? ³⁰ Those who linger over wine, who go to taste mixed drinks. ³¹ Do not gaze at wine while it is red, when it sparkles in the cup and goes down smoothly. ³² In the end it bites like a snake and stings like a viper. ³³ Your eyes will see strange things, and your mind will utter perversities. ³⁴ You will be like one sleeping on the high seas or lying on the to…