NET Bible

The Sayings of the Wise47

^23:1 When you sit down to eat with a ruler, consider carefully what is before you, ^23:2 and put a knife to your throat if you possess a large appetite. ^23:3 Do not crave that ruler’s delicacies, for that food is deceptive. ^23:4 Do not wear yourself out to become rich; be wise enough to restrain yourself. ^23:5 When you gaze upon riches, they are gone, for they surely make wings for themselves and fly off into the sky like an eagle! ^23:6 Do not eat the food of a stingy person, do not crave his delicacies; ^23:7 for he is like someone who has calculated the cost in his mind. “Eat and drink,” he says to you, but his heart is not with you; ^23:8 you will vomit up the little bit you have eaten and will have wasted your pleasant words. ^23:9 Do not speak in the ears of a fool, for he will despise the wisdom of your words. ^23:10 Do not move an ancient boundary stone or take over the fields of the fatherless, ^23:11 for their Protector is strong; he will plead their case against you. ^23:12 Apply your heart to instruction and your ears to the words of knowledge. ^23:13 Do not withhold discipline from a child; even if you strike him with the rod, he will not die. ^23:14 If you strike him with the rod, you will deliver him from death. ^23:15 My child, if your heart is wise, then my heart also will be glad; ^23:16 my soul will rejoice when your lips speak what is right. ^23:17 Do not let your heart envy sinners, but rather be zealous in fearing the Lord all the time. ^23:18 For surely there is a future, and your hope will not be cut off. ^23:19 Listen, my child, and be wise, and guide your heart on the right way. ^23:20 Do not spend time among drunkards, among those who eat too much meat, ^23:21 because drunkards and gluttons become impoverished, and drowsiness clothes them with rags. ^23:22 Listen to your father who gave you life, and do not despise your mother when she is old. ^23:23 Acquire truth and do not sell it— wisdom, and discipline, and understanding. ^23:24 The father of a righteous person will rejoice greatly; whoever fathers a wise child will have joy in him. ^23:25 May your father and your mother have joy; may she who bore you rejoice. ^23:26 Give me your heart, my son, and let your eyes observe my ways; ^23:27 for a prostitute is like a deep pit; a harlot is like a narrow well. ^23:28 Indeed, she lies in wait like a robber and increases the unfaithful among men. ^23:29 Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has complaints? Who has wounds without cause? Who has dullness of the eyes? ^23:30 Those who linger over wine, those who go looking for mixed wine. ^23:31 Do not look on the wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup, when it goes down smoothly. ^23:32 Afterward it bites like a snake and stings like a viper. ^23:33 Your eyes will see strange things, and your mind will speak perverse things. ^23:34 And you will be like one who lies down in the midst of the sea, and like one who lies down on the top of the rigging. ^23:35 You will say, “They have struck me, but I am not harmed! They beat me, but I did not know it! When will I awake? I will look for another drink.”