MKJV - Proverbs - 23

23:1  When you sit down to eat with a ruler, look carefully at what is before you;

23:2  and put a knife to your throat, if you are a man given to appetite.

23:3  Do not desire his delicacies, for they are deceitful food.

23:4  Do not labor to be rich; cease from your own understanding.

23:5  Will your eyes fly on it? And it is gone! For surely it makes wings for itself; it flies into the heavens like an eagle.

23:6  Do not eat the bread of him who has an evil eye, nor desire his dainty foods;

23:7  for as he thinks in his heart, so is he; Eat and drink, he says to you, but his heart is not with you.

23:8  Your bit which you have eaten, you shall vomit up, and spoil your pleasant words.

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

23:10  Do not remove the old landmarks, and do not enter into the fields of the fatherless;

23:11  for their Redeemer is mighty; He shall plead their cause with you.

23:12  Apply your heart to instruction and your ears to the words of knowledge.

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

23:14  You shall beat him with the rod, and shall deliver his soul from hell.

23:15  My son, if your heart is wise, my heart shall rejoice, even mine.

23:16  Yea, my heart shall rejoice when your lips speak right things.

23:17  Do not let your heart envy sinners; but be in the fear of the LORD all the day long.

23:18  For surely there is a hereafter, and your hope shall not be cut off.

23:19  My son, hear and be wise, and guide your heart in the way.

23:20  Do not be among those who drink much wine, among gluttons for flesh for themselves,

23:21  for the drunkard and the glutton lose all, and sleepiness shall clothe a man with rags.

23:22  Listen to your father who sired you, and do not despise your mother when she is old.

23:23  Buy the truth, and sell it not; also wisdom, and instruction, and understanding.

23:24  The father of the righteous shall greatly rejoice; and he who fathers a wise child shall have joy from him.

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

23:26  My son, give Me your heart, and let your eyes watch My ways.

23:27  For a harlot is a deep ditch, and a strange woman is a narrow pit.

23:28  She also lies in wait as for prey, and increases the treacherous among men.

23:29  Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has fighting? Who has babbling? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes?

23:30  Those who stay long at the wine, those who go to seek mixed wine.

23:31  Do not look upon the wine when it is red, when it gives its color in the cup, when it goes down smoothly

23:32  At the last it bites like an asp and stings like an adder.

23:33  Your eyes shall look upon strange women and your heart shall speak perverse things.

23:34  Yes, you shall be as one who lies down in the middle of the sea, or as one who lies upon the top of a mast,

23:35  saying, They struck me; I was not sick; they beat me, but I did not know it. When I awaken, I will add more. I will seek it again.