PROVERBS 23

1 When thou sittest to eat with a ruler, consider diligently him that is before thee;⋮

2 And put a knife to thy throat, if thou be a man given to appetite.⋮

3 Be not desirous of his dainties; seeing they are deceitful meat.⋮

4 Weary not thyself to be rich; cease from thine own wisdom.⋮

5 Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not? for riches certainly make themselves wings, like an eagle that flieth toward heaven.⋮

6 Eat thou not the bread of him that hath an evil eye, neither desire thou his dainties:⋮

7 For as he reckoneth within himself, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee.⋮

8 The morsel which thou hast eaten shalt thou vomit up, and lose thy sweet words.⋮

9 Speak not in the hearing of a fool; for he will despise the wisdom of thy words.⋮

10 Remove not the ancient landmark; and enter not into the fields of the fatherless:⋮

11 For their redeemer is strong; he shall plead their cause against thee.⋮

12 Apply thine heart unto instruction, and thine ears to the words of knowledge.⋮

13 Withhold not correction from the child: for if thou beat him with the rod, he shall not die.⋮

14 Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from Sheol.⋮

15 My son, if thine heart be wise, my heart shall be glad, even mine:⋮

16 Yea, my reins shall rejoice, when thy lips speak right things.⋮

17 Let not thine heart envy sinners: but be thou in the fear of the LORD all the day long:⋮

18 For surely there is a reward; and thy hope shall not be cut off.⋮

19 Hear thou, my son, and be wise, and guide thine heart in the way.⋮

20 Be not among winebibbers; among gluttonous eaters of flesh:⋮

21 For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty: and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags.⋮

22 Hearken unto thy father that begat thee, and despise not thy mother when she is old.⋮

23 Buy the truth, and sell it not; yea, wisdom, and instruction, and understanding.⋮

24 The father of the righteous shall greatly rejoice: and he that begetteth a wise child shall have joy of him.⋮

25 Let thy father and thy mother be glad, and let her that bare thee rejoice.⋮

26 My son, give me thine heart, and let thine eyes delight in my ways.⋮

27 For a whore is a deep ditch; and a strange woman is a narrow pit.⋮

28 Yea, she lieth in wait as a robber, and increaseth the treacherous among men.⋮

29 Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who hath complaining? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes?⋮

30 They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek out mixed wine.⋮

31 Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth its colour in the cup, when it goeth down smoothly.⋮

32 At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder.⋮

33 Thine eyes shall behold strange things, and thine heart shall utter froward things.⋮

34 Yea, thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea, or as he that lieth upon the top of a mast.⋮

35 They have stricken me, shalt thou say, and I was not hurt; they have beaten me, and I felt it not: when shall I awake? I will seek it yet again.⋮