Proverbs 23:1-Proverbs 24:22 - Sayings Of The Wise

¹ When you sit to eat with a ruler, consider diligently what is before you: ² And put a knife to your throat, if you are a man given to appetite. ³ Be not desirous of his delicacies: for they are deceitful food.

⁴ Labor not to be rich: cease from your own wisdom. ⁵ Will you set your eyes upon that which is not? for riches certainly make themselves wings; they fly away as an eagle toward heaven.

⁶ Eat not the bread of him that is stingy, neither desire you his delicacies: ⁷ For as he thinks in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, says he to you; but his heart is not with you. ⁸ The morsel which you have eaten shall you vomit up, and waste your sweet words.

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

¹⁰ Remove not the old landmark; and enter not into the fields of the fatherless: ¹¹ For their redeemer is mighty; he shall plead their cause with you.

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

¹³ Withhold not correction from the child: for if you beat him with a rod, he shall not die. ¹⁴ You shall beat him with the rod, and shall deliver his soul from sheol.

¹⁵ My son, if your heart is wise, my heart shall rejoice, even mine. ¹⁶ Yea, my inmost being shall rejoice, when your lips speak right things.

¹⁷ Let not your heart envy sinners: but be in the fear of the LORD all the day long. ¹⁸ For surely there is a future hope; and your expectation shall not be cut off.

¹⁹ Hear you, my son, and be wise, and guide your heart in the way. ²⁰ Be not among winebibbers; among gluttonous eaters of meat: ²¹ For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty: and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags.

²² Hearken unto your father that begat you, and despise not your mother when she is old. ²³ Buy the truth, and sell it not; also wisdom, and instruction, and understanding. ²⁴ The father of the righteous shall greatly rejoice: and he that begets a wise child shall have joy in him. ²⁵ Your father and your mother shall be glad, and she that bore you shall rejoice.

²⁶ My son, give me your heart, and let your eyes observe my ways. ²⁷ For a harlot is a deep ditch; and a seductress is a narrow well. ²⁸ She also lies in wait as for a prey, and increases the unfaithful among men.

²⁹ Who has woe? who has sorrow? who has contentions? who has babbling? who has wounds without cause? who has redness of eyes? ³⁰ They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine. ³¹ Look not you upon the wine when it is red, when it gives its color in the cup, when it moves itself aright. ³² At the last it bites like a serpent, and stings like an adder. ³³ Your eyes shall behold strange things, and your heart shall utter perverse things. ³⁴ Yea, you shall be as he that lies down in the midst of the sea, or as he that lies upon the top of a mast. ³⁵ They have stricken me, you shall say, and I was not sick; they have beaten me, and I felt it not: when shall I awake? I will seek it yet again.

¹ Be not envious against evil men, neither desire to be with them. ² For their heart studies destruction, and their lips talk of mischief.

³ Through wisdom is a house built; and by understanding it is established: ⁴ And by knowledge shall the chambers be filled with all precious and pleasant riches.

⁵ A wise man is strong; yea, a man of knowledge increases strength. ⁶ For by wise counsel you shall wage your war: and in a multitude of counselors there is safety.

⁷ Wisdom is too lofty for a fool: he opens not his mouth in the gate.

⁸ He that plans to do evil shall be called a mischievous person. ⁹ The thought of foolishness is sin: and the scoffer is an abomination to men.

¹⁰ If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small. ¹¹ Deliver those that are drawn toward death, hold back those that are stumbling to the slaughter; ¹² If you say, Behold, we knew it not; does not he that weighs the heart consider it? and he that keeps your soul, does not he know it? and shall not he render to every man according to his works?

¹³ My son, eat honey because it is good; and the honeycomb, which is sweet to your taste: ¹⁴ So shall the knowledge of wisdom be unto your soul: when you have found it, then there shall be a reward, and your hope shall not be cut off.

¹⁵ Lie not in wait, O wicked man, against the dwelling of the righteous; spoil not his resting place: ¹⁶ For a just man falls seven times, and rises up again: but the wicked shall fall by calamity.

¹⁷ Rejoice not when your enemy falls, and let not your heart be glad when he stumbles: ¹⁸ Lest the LORD sees it, and it displeases him, and he turns away his wrath from him.

¹⁹ Fret not yourself because of evil men, neither be you envious at the wicked; ²⁰ For there shall be no reward to the evil man; the lamp of the wicked shall be put out.

²¹ My son, fear the LORD and the king: and associate not with them that are given to change: ²² For their calamity shall rise suddenly; and who knows the ruin of them both?