Proverbs 23

1 When you sit to eat with a ruler, observe carefully what is before you,⋮

2 and put a knife to your throat if you are a person who likes to eat a lot of food.⋮

3 Do not crave his delicacies, for it is the food of lies.⋮

4 Do not work too hard to gain wealth; be wise enough to know when to stop.⋮

5 Will you let your eyes light upon it? It will be gone, for it will surely take up wings like an eagle and fly off to the sky.⋮

6 Do not eat the food of one with an evil eye— and do not crave his delicacies,⋮

7 for he is the kind of man who counts the price of the food. “Eat and drink!” he says to you, but his heart is not with you.⋮

8 You will vomit up the little you have eaten and you will have wasted your compliments.⋮

9 Do not speak in the hearing of 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 orphans,⋮

11 for their Redeemer is strong and he will plead their case against you.⋮

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

13 Do not withhold instruction from a child, for if you discipline him, he will not die.⋮

14 It is you who must beat him with the rod and save his soul from Sheol.⋮

15 My son, if your heart is wise, then my heart also will be glad;⋮

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

17 Do not let your heart envy sinners, but continue in the fear of Yahweh all the day.⋮

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

19 Hear—you!—my son, and be wise and direct your heart in the way.⋮

20 Do not associate with drunkards, or with gluttonous eaters of meat,⋮

21 for the drunkard and the glutton become poor and slumber will clothe them with rags.⋮

22 Listen to your father who begot you and do not despise your mother when she is old.⋮

23 Buy the truth, but do not sell it; buy wisdom, instruction, and understanding.⋮

24 The father of the righteous person will greatly rejoice, and he who begets a wise child will be glad 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 my ways.⋮

27 For a prostitute is a deep pit, and an immoral woman is a narrow well.⋮

28 She lies in wait like a robber and she increases the number of the treacherous among humanity.⋮

29 Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has fights? Who has complaining? Who has wounds for no reason? Who has bloodshot eyes?⋮

30 Those who linger over wine, those who try the mixed wine.⋮

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

32 In the last it bites like a serpent and it stings like an adder.⋮

33 Your eyes will see strange things and your heart will utter perverse things.⋮

34 You will be as one who sleeps on the high seas or lies on the top of a mast.⋮

35 “They hit me,” you will say, “but I was not hurt. They beat me, but I did not feel it. When will I wake up? I will seek another drink.”⋮