LEB - Proverbs - 23

23:1  When you sit to eat with a ruler, you shall surely observe what is before you,

23:2  and you shall put a knife to your throat if you have a ⌞big appetite⌟.

23:3  Do not desire his delicacies, for it is food of deception.

23:4  Do not tire in order to become rich; out of your understanding, may you desist.

23:5  Your eyes will ⌞alight⌟ on it, but there is nothing to it, for suddenly it will make for itself wings like an eagle and it will be exhausted in the heavens.

23:6  Do not eat the bread of ⌞the stingy⌟, and do not desire his delicacies.

23:7  For, like hair in his ⌞throat⌟, so it is. “Eat and drink!” he will say to you, but his heart will not be with you.

23:8  Your morsel you have eaten, you will vomit it up, and you will waste your pleasant words.

23:9  In the ears of a fool do not speak, for he will despise the wisdom of your words.

23:10  Do not remove an ancient boundary marker, and on the fields of orphans do not encroach;

23:11  For their redeemer is strong, he himself will plead their cause against you.

23:12  Apply your heart to instruction, and your ear to sayings of knowledge.

23:13  Do not withhold discipline from a child, if you will beat him with the rod, he will not die.

23:14  As for you, with the rod you shall beat him, and his life you will save from Sheol.

23:15  My child, if your heart is wise, my heart will be glad—even me!

23:16  And my ⌞insides⌟ will rejoice when your lips speak what is upright.

23:17  May your heart not envy the sinners, but live in fear of Yahweh ⌞all day⌟.

23:18  ⌞Surely⌟ there is a future, and your hope will not be cut off.

23:19  You, my child, hear and be wise, and direct your heart on the road.

23:20  Do not be among drinkers of wine, among gluttonous eaters of ⌞their meat⌟.

23:21  For the drunkard and gluttonous, they will become poor, and with rags, drowsiness will clothe them.

23:22  Listen to your father—he who ⌞gave you life⌟, and do not despise your mother when she is old.

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

23:24  The father of the righteous will surely rejoice; he who bears a wise person will be happy with him.

23:25  May your father and your mother be glad, and may she who bore you rejoice.

23:26  My child, may you give your heart to me, and may your eyes delight in my ways.

23:27  For a deep pit is a prostitute, and a narrow well is ⌞an adulteress⌟.

23:28  She is also like a robber lying in wait, and the faithless among mankind she increases.

23:29  To whom is woe? To whom is sorrow? To whom are quarrels? To whom is complaint? To whom are wounds without cause? To whom is redness of the eyes?

23:30  To those who linger over wine, to those who come to try mixed wine.

23:31  Do not look at wine when it is red, when it ⌞sparkles⌟ on the cup, going down smoothly.

23:32  ⌞In the end⌟, it will bite like a serpent, and it will sting like an adder.

23:33  Your eyes will see strange things, and your heart will speak perverse things.

23:34  And you will be like him who lies down in the heart of the sea, and like him who lies down on top of a mast.

23:35  “They struck me; I was not hurt. They beat me; I did not know it. When I will awake, I will continue; I will seek it again.”