Proverbs 23 · Clearspring

True Riches

Saying 7

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.+

Saying 8

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.+

Saying 9

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.+

Saying 10

⁹Speak not in the ears of a fool: for he will despise the wisdom of thy words.+

Saying 11

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.+

Saying 12

¹²Apply thine heart unto instruction, and thine ears to the words of knowledge.+

Saying 13

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.+

Saying 14

¹⁵My son, if thine heart be wise, my heart shall rejoice, even mine.+ ¹⁶Yea, my reins shall rejoice, when thy lips speak right things.+

Saying 15

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.+

Saying 16

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.+

Saying 17

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.+

Saying 18

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.+

Saying 19

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.+