Proverbs 23

1 “If you sit to dine at a ruler’s table, carefully consider what is set before you,

2 and put out your hand while knowing that you must prepare comparable food.

3 If you are very insatiable, do not desire his food, for it belongs to a false life.

4 If you are poor, do not strain to match a rich person, but hold back by your own reflection.

5 If you fix your gaze on him, he will disappear, for wings like an eagle’s have been prepared for him, and he returns to his master’s house.

6 Do not dine with an envious person or desire his food,

7 for he eats and drinks as though he were swallowing a hair.

8 Do not bring him into your home or eat your bread with him, for he will vomit it up and ruin your good words.

9 Say nothing in a fool’s ears, or he may sneer at your understanding words.

10 Do not move ancient boundary stones or enter the property of orphans,

11 for the Lord who ransoms them is mighty, and he will judge their case against you.

12 Apply your heart to instruction and prepare your ears for words of perception.

13 Do not refrain from disciplining a child, for if you strike him with a rod, he will not die.

14 You will strike him with a rod, but you will rescue his soul from death.

15 My son, if your heart becomes wise, you will gladden my heart as well,

16 and your lips will converse with mine in words, if those words are right.

17 Do not let your heart envy sinners, but remain in the fear of the Lord all day.

18 For if you keep these things, you will have descendants, and your hope will not leave you.

19 Listen, my son, become wise, and direct the thoughts of your heart rightly.

20 Do not be a wine drinker, and do not linger at parties and purchases of meat,

21 for every drunkard and man who visits prostitutes will become poor, and every drowsy person will wear torn and ragged clothing.

22 Listen, my son, to the father who gave you life, and do not despise your mother because she has grown old.

24 A righteous father raises his children well, and his soul rejoices over a wise son.

25 Let your father and mother rejoice over you, and let the woman who gave birth to you be glad.

26 My son, give me your heart, and let your eyes observe my ways.

27 Another person’s house is a jar full of holes, and another person’s well is narrow.

28 Such a person will perish suddenly, and every lawbreaker will be consumed.

29 Who has woe? Who has turmoil? Who has judgment? Who has unpleasantness and disputes? Who has bruises for no reason? Whose eyes are livid?

30 Is it not those who linger over wine and track down where drinking parties are held?

31 Do not get drunk with wine, but associate with righteous people and associate openly with them. For if you set your eyes on bowls and cups, afterward you will walk more naked than a pestle.

32 In the end you will stretch out as though struck by a snake, and venom will spread through you as from a horned serpent.

33 Whenever your eyes see another woman, your mouth will speak crooked things,

34 and you will lie as though in the heart of the sea, like a pilot in a great storm.

35 You will say, ‘They struck me, but I felt no pain. They mocked me, but I did not know it. When will morning come, so that I may go and seek those whose company I will join?’”