Proverbs — Chapter 23
King James Version · 35 verses
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1When thou sittest to eat with a ruler, consider diligently what is before thee:→2And put a knife to thy throat, if thou be a man given to appetite.→3Be not desirous of his dainties: for they are deceitful meat.→4Labour not to be rich: cease from thine own wisdom.→5Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not? for riches certainly make themselves wings; they fly away as an eagle toward heaven.→6Eat thou not the bread of him that hath an evil eye, neither desire thou his dainty meats:→7For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee.→8The morsel which thou hast eaten shalt thou vomit up, and lose thy sweet words.→9Speak not in the ears of a fool: for he will despise the wisdom of thy words.→10Remove not the old landmark; and enter not into the fields of the fatherless:→11For their redeemer is mighty; he shall plead their cause with thee.→12Apply thine heart unto instruction, and thine ears to the words of knowledge.→13Withhold not correction from the child: for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die.→14Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell.→15My son, if thine heart be wise, my heart shall rejoice, even mine.→16Yea, my reins shall rejoice, when thy lips speak right things.→17Let not thine heart envy sinners: but be thou in the fear of the LORD all the day long.→18For surely there is an end; and thine expectation shall not be cut off.→19Hear thou, my son, and be wise, and guide thine heart in the way.→20Be not among winebibbers; among riotous eaters of flesh:→21For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty: and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags.→22Hearken unto thy father that begat thee, and despise not thy mother when she is old.→23Buy the truth, and sell it not; also wisdom, and instruction, and understanding.→24The father of the righteous shall greatly rejoice: and he that begetteth a wise child shall have joy of him.→25Thy father and thy mother shall be glad, and she that bare thee shall rejoice.→26My son, give me thine heart, and let thine eyes observe my ways.→27For a whore is a deep ditch; and a strange woman is a narrow pit.→28She also lieth in wait as for a prey, and increaseth the transgressors among men.→29Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who hath babbling? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes?→30They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine.→31Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright.→32At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder.→33Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thine heart shall utter perverse things.→34Yea, thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea, or as he that lieth upon the top of a mast.→35They have stricken me, shalt thou say, and I was not sick; they have beaten me, and I felt it not: when shall I awake? I will seek it yet again.→