Proverbs 23 — Legacy Standard Bible

The Fear of Yahweh

23When you sit down to dine with a ruler,Understand well ¹what is before you,²So you should put a knife to your throatIf you are a ^aman of appetite.³Do not ^adesire his delicacies,For it is bread of falsehood.⁴^aDo 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 wingsLike an eagle that flies toward the heavens.⁶^aDo 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.⁹^aDo not speak in the ¹hearing of a fool,For he will ^bdespise the insight of your speech.¹⁰Do not move the ancient boundaryAnd 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 disciplineAnd your ears to ¹words of knowledge.¹³^aDo not withhold discipline from the child,Although you ¹strike him with the rod, he will not die.¹⁴You shall ¹strike him with the rodAnd ^adeliver his soul from Sheol.¹⁵My son, if your heart is ^awise,My own heart also will be glad;¹⁶And my ¹inmost being will exultWhen your lips speak ^aupright things.¹⁷^aDo not let your heart be jealous of sinners,But be zealous in the ¹^,^bfear of Yahweh ²always.¹⁸Surely there is a ¹^,^afuture,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.²²^aListen to your father who begot you,And ^bdo not despise your mother when she is old.²³^aBuy 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.²⁶^aGive your heart to me, my son,And let your eyes ¹^,^bdelight in my ways.²⁷For a harlot is a ^adeep pitAnd 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 thingsAnd 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.”