Proverbs 23

CHAPTER 23

The Fear of Yahweh

¹When you sit down to dine with a ruler,

Understand well ¹what is before you,

²So you should put a knife to your throat

If you are a ^aman of appetite.

³Do not ^adesire his delicacies,

For it is bread of falsehood.

^4aDo not weary yourself to gain wealth,

^bBecause of your understanding, cease!

⁵Do you make your eyes fly up to see it? But it is not there!

Because ^ait certainly makes itself wings

Like an eagle that flies toward the heavens.

^6aDo not eat the bread of ¹a ^bselfish man,

And do not desire his delicacies;

⁷For as he ¹calculates in his soul, so he is.

“Eat and drink!” he says to you,

But ^ahis heart is not with you.

⁸You will ^avomit up ¹the morsel you have eaten,

And you will corrupt your pleasant words.

^9aDo not speak in the ¹hearing of a fool,

For he will ^bdespise the insight of your speech.

¹⁰Do not move the ancient boundary

And do not ^acome into the fields of the orphans,

¹¹For their ^aRedeemer is strong;

^bHe will plead their case against you.

¹²Bring your heart to discipline

And your ears to ¹words of knowledge.

^13aDo not withhold discipline from the child,

Although you ¹strike him with the rod, he will not die.

¹⁴You shall ¹strike him with the rod

And ^adeliver his soul from Sheol.

¹⁵My son, if your heart is ^awise,

My own heart also will be glad;

¹⁶And my ¹inmost being will exult

When your lips speak ^aupright things.

^17aDo not let your heart be jealous of sinners,

But be zealous in the ^1bfear of Yahweh ²always.

¹⁸Surely there is a ^1afuture,

And your ^bhope will not be cut off.

¹⁹You, my son, listen and ^abe wise,

And ^bdirect your heart in the way.

²⁰Do not be with ^aheavy drinkers of wine,

Or with ^bgluttonous eaters of meat;

²¹For the ^aheavy drinker and the glutton will come to poverty,

And ^bdrowsiness will clothe them with rags.

^22aListen to your father who begot you,

And ^bdo not despise your mother when she is old.

^23aBuy truth, and do not sell it,

Get wisdom and discipline and understanding.

²⁴The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice,

And ^ahe who begets a wise son will be glad in him.

²⁵Let your ^afather and your mother be glad,

And let her rejoice who gave birth to you.

^26aGive your heart to me, my son,

And let your eyes ^1bdelight in my ways.

²⁷For a harlot is a ^adeep pit

And ¹a ^bforeign woman is a narrow well.

²⁸Surely she ^alies in wait as a robber,

And adds to the treacherous among men.

²⁹Who has ^awoe? Who has sorrow?

Who has contentions? Who has complaining?

Who has wounds without cause?

Who has redness of eyes?

³⁰Those who ^alinger long over wine,

Those who go to search out ^bmixed wine.

³¹Do not look on the wine when it glistens red,

When it ¹sparkles in the cup,

When it ^agoes down smoothly;

³²At the end—like a serpent it ^abites,

And like a ^bviper it stings.

³³Your eyes will see strange things

And your heart will ^aspeak perverse things.

³⁴And you will be like one who lies down in the heart of the sea,

Or like one who lies down on the top of a ¹mast.

³⁵“They ^astruck me, but I did not become ¹ill;

They beat me, but I did not know it.

When shall I awake?

I will ^bseek yet another.”