Proverbs 23

¹When you sit to eat with a ruler,

²and you shall put a knife to your throat

³Do not desire his delicacies,

⁴Do not tire in order to become rich;

⁵Your eyes will alight on it, but there is nothing to it,[#Literally “cause to fly”]

⁶Do not eat the bread of the stingy,[#Literally “stingy of eye”]

⁷For, like hair in his throat, so it is.[#Literally “soul,” or “inner self”; #Or “is he”]

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

⁹In the ears of a fool do not speak,

¹⁰Do not remove an ancient boundary marker,

¹¹For their redeemer is strong,

¹²Apply your heart to instruction,[#Or “mind”]

¹³Do not withhold discipline from a child,

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

¹⁵My child, if your heart is wise,[#Or “mind”]

¹⁶And my insides will rejoice[#Literally “kidneys”]

¹⁷May your heart not envy the sinners,[#Or “mind”]

¹⁸Surely there is a future,[#Literally “For if”]

¹⁹You, my child, hear and be wise,

²⁰Do not be among drinkers of wine,

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

²²Listen to your father—he who gave you life,[#Literally “caused you to be born”]

²³Buy truth and do not sell it,

²⁴The father of the righteous will surely rejoice;

²⁵May your father and your mother be glad,

²⁶My child, may you give your heart to me,[#Or “mind”]

²⁷For a deep pit is a prostitute,[#Or “whore”]

²⁸She is also like a robber lying in wait,

²⁹To whom is woe? To whom is sorrow? To whom are quarrels? To whom is complaint?

³⁰To those who linger over wine,

³¹Do not look at wine when it is red,

³²In the end, it will bite like a serpent,[#Literally “end him”]

³³Your eyes will see strange things,

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

³⁵“They struck me; I was not hurt. They beat me; I did not know it.