Proverbs 23:1-16 ▼

1 When you sit down to dine with a ruler, Understand well what is before you,

2 So you should put a knife to your throat If you are a man of appetite.

3 Do not desire his delicacies, For it is bread of falsehood.

4 Do not weary yourself to gain wealth, Because of your understanding, cease!

5 Do you make your eyes fly up to see it? But it is not there! Because it certainly makes itself wings Like an eagle that flies toward the heavens.

6 Do not eat the bread of a selfish man, And do not desire his delicacies;

7 For as he calculates in his soul, so he is. “Eat and drink!” he says to you, But his heart is not with you.

8 You will vomit up the morsel you have eaten, And you will corrupt your pleasant words.

9 Do not speak in the hearing of a fool, For he will despise the insight of your speech.

10 Do not move the ancient boundary And do not come into the fields of the orphans,

11 For their Redeemer is strong; He will plead their case against you.

12 Bring your heart to discipline And your ears to words of knowledge.

13 Do not withhold discipline from the child, Although you strike him with the rod, he will not die.

14 You shall strike him with the rod And deliver his soul from Sheol.

15 My son, if your heart is wise, My own heart also will be glad;

16 And my inmost being will exult When your lips speak upright things.