The Holy Bible
« Chapter 22 «--- Proverbs ---» Chapter 24»
Proverbs 23 : 1 - 35
Chapter 23
1 | When you sit down to eat with a ruler, Consider carefully what is before you;
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2 | And put a knife to your throat If you are a man given to appetite.
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3 | Do not desire his delicacies, For they are deceptive food.
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4 | Do not overwork to be rich; Because of your own understanding, cease!
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5 | Will you set your eyes on that which is not? For riches certainly make themselves wings; They fly away like an eagle toward heaven.
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6 | Do not eat the bread of a miser, Nor desire his delicacies;
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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.
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8 | The morsel you have eaten, you will vomit up, And waste your pleasant words.
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9 | Do not speak in the hearing of a fool, For he will despise the wisdom of your words.
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10 | Do not remove the ancient landmark, Nor enter the fields of the fatherless;
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11 | For their Redeemer is mighty; He will plead their cause against you.
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12 | Apply your heart to instruction, And your ears to words of knowledge.
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13 | Do not withhold correction from a child, For if you beat him with a rod, he will not die.
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14 | You shall beat him with a rod, And deliver his soul from hell.
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15 | My son, if your heart is wise, My heart will rejoice--indeed, I myself;
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16 | Yes, my inmost being will rejoice When your lips speak right things.
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17 | Do not let your heart envy sinners, But be zealous for the fear of the LORD all the day;
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18 | For surely there is a hereafter, And your hope will not be cut off.
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19 | Hear, my son, and be wise; And guide your heart in the way.
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20 | Do not mix with winebibbers, Or with gluttonous eaters of meat;
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21 | For the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty, And drowsiness will clothe a man with rags.
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22 | Listen to your father who begot you, And do not despise your mother when she is old.
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23 | Buy the truth, and do not sell it, Also wisdom and instruction and understanding.
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24 | The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice, And he who begets a wise child will delight in him.
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25 | Let your father and your mother be glad, And let her who bore you rejoice.
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26 | My son, give me your heart, And let your eyes observe my ways.
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27 | For a harlot is a deep pit, And a seductress is a narrow well.
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28 | She also lies in wait as for a victim, And increases the unfaithful among men.
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29 | Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has complaints? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes?
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30 | Those who linger long at the wine, Those who go in search of mixed wine.
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31 | Do not look on the wine when it is red, When it sparkles in the cup, When it swirls around smoothly;
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32 | At the last it bites like a serpent, And stings like a viper.
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33 | Your eyes will see strange things, And your heart will utter perverse things.
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34 | Yes, you will be like one who lies down in the midst of the sea, Or like one who lies at the top of the mast, saying:
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35 | "They have struck me, but I was not hurt; They have beaten me, but I did not feel it. When shall I awake, that I may seek another drink?|"
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Acknowledgement
Opening page