Proverbs 23 - Modern English Version

Saying 7

¹ When you sit to dine with a ruler, consider diligently what is before you,

² and put a knife to your throat if you be a man given to gluttony.

³ Be not desirous of his delicacies, for they are deceitful food.

Saying 8

⁴ Toil not to acquire wealth; cease from your own understanding.

⁵ Will you let your eyes fly after that which is not? For such wealth certainly sprouts wings, flying away like an eagle to the heavens.

Saying 9

⁶ Eat not the bread of him who has an evil eye, nor desire his delicacies,

⁷ for as he thinks in his heart, so is he. “Eat and drink!” he says to you, but his heart is not with you.

⁸ The morsel which you have eaten, you will vomit up, and lose your pleasant words.

Saying 10

⁹ Speak not in the hearing of a fool, for he will despise the wisdom of your words.

Saying 11

¹⁰ Remove not the ancient landmark, nor enter the fields of the fatherless,

¹¹ for their Redeemer is strong; He will plead their cause against you.

Saying 12

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

Saying 13

¹³ Withhold not discipline from a child; if you strike him with the rod, he will not die.

¹⁴ You will strike him with the rod, and save his soul from Sheol.

Saying 14

¹⁵ My son, if your heart is wise, my heart will indeed rejoice.

¹⁶ My soul will exult when your lips speak what is right.

Saying 15

¹⁷ Let not your heart envy sinners, but be in the fear of the Lord all the day long.

¹⁸ Surely there is a future, and your hope will not be cut off.

Saying 16

¹⁹ Hear, my son, and be wise, and direct your heart in the way.

²⁰ Be not among winebibbers, or among gluttonous eaters of meat,

²¹ for the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty, and drowsiness will clothe them with rags.

Saying 17

²² Listen to your father who begot you, and despise not your mother when she is old.

²³ Buy truth, and sell it not; also wisdom and instruction and understanding.

²⁴ The father of a righteous son will rejoice greatly, and he who begets a wise son will delight in him.

²⁵ Let your father and your mother be glad; let her who bore you rejoice.

Saying 18

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

²⁷ For a prostitute is a deep pit; and an adulteress is a narrow well.

²⁸ She lies in wait like a road bandit, and increases the unfaithful among men.

Saying 19

²⁹ Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has strife? Who has complaints? Who has wounds without cause? Who has bloodshot eyes?

³⁰ Those who linger long over the wine, those who turn in to try mixed wine.

³¹ Stare not into the wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup, when it goes down smoothly.

³² In the end it bites like a serpent, and stings like a viper.

³³ Your eyes will behold strange women, and your heart will utter perverse things.

³⁴ You will be as he who lies down in the heart of the sea, or as he who lies on the top of a mast.

³⁵ “They struck me,” you will say, “but I was not hurt; they beat me, but I did not feel it. When shall I awake? I must have another drink.”