Proverbs 23

23When you sit to eat with a ruler,

you shall surely observe what is before you,

²and you shall put a knife to your throat

if you have a big appetite.^a

³Do not desire his delicacies,

for^b it is food of deception.

⁴Do not tire in order to become rich;

out of your understanding, may you desist.

⁵Your eyes will alight^c 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.

⁶Do not eat the bread of the stingy,^d

and do not desire his delicacies.

⁷For, like hair in his throat,^e so it is.^f

“Eat and drink!” he will say to you,

but his heart will not be with you.

⁸Your morsel you have eaten, you will vomit it up,

and you will waste your pleasant words.

⁹In the ears of a fool do not speak,

for he will despise the wisdom of your words.

¹⁰Do not remove an ancient boundary marker,

and on the fields of orphans do not encroach;

¹¹For their redeemer is strong,

he himself will plead their cause against you.

¹²Apply your heart^g to instruction,

and your ear to sayings of knowledge.

¹³Do not withhold discipline from a child,

if you will beat him with the rod, he will not die.

¹⁴As for you, with the rod you shall beat him,

and his life^h you will save from Sheol.ⁱ

¹⁵My child, if your heart^j is wise,

my heart will be glad—even me!

¹⁶And my insides^k will rejoice

when your lips speak what is upright.

¹⁷May your heart^l not envy the sinners,

but live in fear of Yahweh all day.^m

¹⁸Surelyⁿ there is a future,

and your hope will not be cut off.

¹⁹You, my child, hear and be wise,

and direct your heart^o on the road.

²⁰Do not be among drinkers of wine,

among gluttonous eaters of their meat.^p

²¹For the drunkard and gluttonous, they will become poor,

and with rags, drowsiness will clothe them.

²²Listen to your father—he who gave you life,^q

and do not despise your mother when^r she is old.

²³Buy truth and do not sell it,

wisdom and instruction and understanding.

²⁴The father of the righteous will surely rejoice;

he who bears a wise person will be happy with him.

²⁵May your father and your mother be glad,

and may she who bore you rejoice.

²⁶My child, may you give your heart^s to me,

and may your eyes delight in my ways.

²⁷For a deep pit is a prostitute,^t

and a narrow well is an adulteress.^u

²⁸She is also like a robber lying in wait,

and the faithless among mankind she increases.

²⁹To 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?

³⁰To those who linger over wine,

to those who come to try mixed wine.

³¹Do not look at wine when it is red,

when it sparkles^v on the cup,

going down smoothly.

³²In the end,^w it will bite like a serpent,

and it will sting like an adder.

³³Your eyes will see strange things,

and your heart^x will speak perverse things.

³⁴And 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.

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.”