Proverbs 23

⁴ 
Do not weary yourself [with the overwhelming desire] to gain wealth;
Cease from your own understanding of it.
⁵ 
When you set your eyes on wealth, it is [suddenly] gone.
For wealth certainly makes itself wings
Like an eagle that flies to the heavens.

⁶ 
Do not eat the bread of a selfish man,
Or desire his delicacies;
⁷ 
For as he thinks in his heart, so is he [in behavior—one who manipulates].
He says to you, “Eat and drink,”
Yet his heart is not with you [but it is begrudging the cost].
⁸ 
The morsel which you have eaten you will vomit up,
And you will waste your compliments.

⁹ 
Do not speak in the ears of a fool,
For he will despise the [godly] wisdom of your words.

¹⁰ 
Do not move the ancient landmark [at the boundary of the property]
And do not go into the fields of the fatherless [to take what is theirs],
¹¹ 
For their Redeemer is strong and mighty;
He will plead their case against you.
¹² 
Apply your heart to discipline
And your ears to words of knowledge.

¹³ 
Do not withhold discipline from the child;
If you ^[a]swat him with a reed-like rod [applied with godly wisdom], he will not die.
¹⁴ 
You shall ^[b]swat him with the reed-like rod
And rescue his life from Sheol (the nether world, the place of the dead).

¹⁵ 
My son, if your heart is wise,
My heart will also be glad;
¹⁶ 
Yes, my heart will rejoice
When your lips speak right things.

¹⁷ 
Do not let your heart envy sinners [who live godless lives and have no hope of salvation],
But [continue to] live in the [reverent, worshipful] fear of the Lord day by day.
¹⁸ 
Surely there is a future [and a reward],
And your hope and expectation will not be cut off.
¹⁹ 
Listen, my son, and be wise,
And direct your heart in the way [of the Lord].
²⁰ 
Do not associate with heavy drinkers of wine,
Or with gluttonous eaters of meat,
²¹ 
For the heavy drinker and the glutton will come to poverty,
And the drowsiness [of overindulgence] will clothe one with rags.

²² 
Listen to your father, who sired you,
And do not despise your mother when she is old.
^23 
[c]Buy truth, and do not sell it;
Get wisdom and instruction and understanding.

²⁴ 
The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice,
And he who sires a wise child will have joy in him.
²⁵ 
Let your father and your mother be glad,
And let her who gave birth to you rejoice [in your wise and godly choices].

²⁶ 
My son, give me your heart
And let your eyes delight in my ways,
²⁷ 
For a prostitute is a deep pit,
And an immoral woman is a narrow well.
²⁸ 
She lurks and lies in wait like a robber [who waits for prey],
And she increases the faithless among men.

²⁹ 
Who has woe? Who has sorrow?
Who has strife? Who has complaining?
Who has wounds without cause?
Whose eyes are red and dim?
³⁰ 
Those who linger long over wine,
Those who go to taste mixed wine.
³¹ 
Do not look at wine when it is red,
When it sparkles in the glass,
When it goes down smoothly.
³² 
At the last it bites like a serpent
And stings like a viper.
³³ 
Your [drunken] eyes will see strange things
And your mind will utter perverse things [untrue things, twisted things].
³⁴ 
And you will be [as unsteady] as one who lies down in the middle of the sea,
And [as vulnerable to disaster] as one who lies down on the top of a ship’s mast, saying,
³⁵ 
“They struck me, but I was not hurt!
They beat me, but I did not feel it!
When will I wake up?
I will seek more wine.”