Proverbs 23

True Riches

(1 Timothy 6:17–19; James 5:1–6)

Saying 7

¹When you sit down to dine with a ruler,

consider carefully what is set before you,1

²and put a knife to your throat

if you possess a great appetite.1

³Do not crave his delicacies,

for that food is deceptive.1

Saying 8

⁴Do not wear yourself out to get rich;

be wise enough to restrain yourself.

⁵When you glance at wealth, it disappears,

for it makes wings for itself

and flies like an eagle to the sky.

Saying 9

⁶Do not eat the bread of a stingy man,

and do not crave his delicacies;

⁷for he is keeping track,

inwardly counting the cost.

“Eat and drink,” he says to you,

but his heart is not with you.

⁸You will vomit up what little you have eaten

and waste your pleasant words.

Saying 10

⁹Do not speak to a fool,

for he will despise the wisdom of your words.

Saying 11

¹⁰Do not move an ancient boundary stone

or encroach on the fields of the fatherless,

¹¹for their Redeemer is strong;

He will take up their case against you.

Saying 12

¹²Apply your heart to instruction

and your ears to words of knowledge.

Saying 13

¹³Do not withhold discipline from a child;

although you strike him with a rod, he will not die.

¹⁴Strike him with a rod,

and you will deliver his soul from Sheol.1

Saying 14

¹⁵My son, if your heart is wise,

my own heart will indeed rejoice.

¹⁶My inmost being will rejoice

when your lips speak what is right.

Saying 15

¹⁷Do not let your heart envy sinners,

but always continue in the fear of the LORD.

¹⁸For surely there is a future,

and your hope will not be cut off.

Saying 16

¹⁹Listen, my son, and be wise,

and guide your heart on the right course.

²⁰Do not join those who drink too much wine

or gorge themselves on meat.

²¹For the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty,

and drowsiness will clothe them in rags.

Saying 17

²²Listen to your father who gave you life,

and do not despise your mother when she is old.

²³Invest in truth and never sell it—

in wisdom and instruction and understanding.

²⁴The father of a righteous man will greatly rejoice,

and he who fathers a wise son will delight in him.

²⁵May your father and mother be glad,

and may she who gave you birth rejoice!

Saying 18

²⁶My son, give me your heart,

and let your eyes delight in my ways.1

²⁷For a prostitute is a deep pit,

and an adulteress is a narrow well.

²⁸Like a robber she lies in wait

and multiplies the faithless among men.

Saying 19

²⁹Who has woe? Who has sorrow?

Who has contentions? Who has complaints?

Who has needless wounds? Who has bloodshot eyes?

³⁰Those who linger over wine,

who go to taste mixed drinks.

³¹Do not gaze at wine while it is red,

when it sparkles in the cup

and goes down smoothly.

³²In the end it bites like a snake

and stings like a viper.

³³Your eyes will see strange things,

and your mind will utter perversities.

³⁴You will be like one sleeping on the high seas

or lying on the top of a mast:

³⁵“They struck me, but I feel no pain!

They beat me, but I did not know it!

When can I wake up

to search for another drink?”