Proverbs 23 · Clearspring

True Riches

Saying 7

¹When you sit down to dine with a ruler, consider carefully what is set before you,+ ²and put a knife to your throat if you possess a great appetite.+ ³Do not crave his delicacies, for that food is deceptive.+

Saying 8

⁴Do not wear yourself out to get rich; be wise enough to restrain yourself.+ ⁵When you glance at wealth, it disappears, for it makes wings for itself and flies like an eagle to the sky.+

Saying 9

⁶Do not eat the bread of a stingy man, and do not crave his delicacies;+ ⁷for he is keeping track, inwardly counting the cost. “Eat and drink,” he says to you, but his heart is not with you.+ ⁸You will vomit up what little you have eaten and waste your pleasant words.+

Saying 10

⁹Do not speak to a fool, for he will despise the wisdom of your words.+

Saying 11

¹⁰Do not move an ancient boundary stone or encroach on the fields of the fatherless,+ ¹¹for their Redeemer is strong; He will take up their case against you.+

Saying 12

¹²Apply your heart to instruction and your ears to words of knowledge.+

Saying 13

¹³Do not withhold discipline from a child; although you strike him with a rod, he will not die.+ ¹⁴Strike him with a rod, and you will deliver his soul from Sheol.+

Saying 14

¹⁵My son, if your heart is wise, my own heart will indeed rejoice.+ ¹⁶My inmost being will rejoice when your lips speak what is right.+

Saying 15

¹⁷Do not let your heart envy sinners, but always continue in the fear of the LORD.+ ¹⁸For surely there is a future, and your hope will not be cut off.+

Saying 16

¹⁹Listen, my son, and be wise, and guide your heart on the right course.+ ²⁰Do not join those who drink too much wine or gorge themselves on meat.+ ²¹For the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty, and drowsiness will clothe them in rags.+

Saying 17

²²Listen to your father who gave you life, and do not despise your mother when she is old.+ ²³Invest in truth and never sell it— in wisdom and instruction and understanding.+ ²⁴The father of a righteous man will greatly rejoice, and he who fathers a wise son will delight in him.+ ²⁵May your father and mother be glad, and may she who gave you birth rejoice!+

Saying 18

²⁶My son, give me your heart, and let your eyes delight in my ways.+ ²⁷For a prostitute is a deep pit, and an adulteress is a narrow well.+ ²⁸Like a robber she lies in wait and multiplies the faithless among men.+

Saying 19

²⁹Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has complaints? Who has needless wounds? Who has bloodshot eyes?+ ³⁰Those who linger over wine, who go to taste mixed drinks.+ ³¹Do not gaze at wine while it is red, when it sparkles in the cup and goes down smoothly.+ ³²In the end it bites like a snake and stings like a viper.+ ³³Your eyes will see strange things, and your mind will utter perversities.+ ³⁴You will be like one sleeping on the high seas or lying on the top of a mast:+ ³⁵“They struck me, but I feel no pain! They beat me, but I did not know it! When can I wake up to search for another drink?”+