Proverbs 23
All 35 verses in the Clear Bible Translation. Tap a verse to compare the KJV and read what it means.
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- 1When you sit down to eat with a ruler, consider carefully what is before you.
- 2And put a knife to your throat if you are someone given to appetite.
- 3Do not crave his delicacies, for they are deceptive food.
- 4Don't labor to be rich; cease from your own wisdom.
- 5Will you set your eyes on that which is not? For riches certainly make themselves wings; they fly away like an eagle toward heaven.
- 6Do not eat the bread of someone with an evil eye, and do not desire his fine foods.
- 7For as he thinks in his heart, so is he. 'Eat and drink,' he says to you, but his heart is not with you.
- 8The morsel you have eaten, you will vomit up, and your pleasant words will be wasted.
- 9Don't speak in the ears of a fool, for he will despise the wisdom of your words.
- 10Do not remove the old landmark, and do not enter the fields of the fatherless.
- 11For their redeemer is mighty; he will plead their cause with you.
- 12Focus your heart on instruction, and your ears on the words of knowledge.
- 13Do not withhold correction from a child; if you beat him with the rod, he will not die.
- 14You shall beat him with the rod, and deliver his soul from hell.
- 15My son, if your heart is wise, my heart will rejoice, even mine.
- 16Yes, my inward parts will rejoice when your lips speak what is right.
- 17Don't let your heart envy sinners, but be in the fear of the LORD all the day long.
- 18For surely there is an end, and your expectation will not be cut off.
- 19Listen, my son, and be wise, and guide your heart in the way.
- 20Do not be among those who drink wine excessively or those who indulge in gluttonous feasting.
- 21For the drunkard and the glutton will become poor, and drowsiness will dress a man in rags.
- 22Listen to your father who begot you, and don't despise your mother when she is old.
- 23Buy the truth and do not sell it; also acquire wisdom, instruction, and understanding.
- 24The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice, and he who begets a wise child will have joy in him.
- 25Your father and mother will be glad, and she who gave birth to you will rejoice.
- 26My son, give me your heart, and let your eyes observe my ways.
- 27For a prostitute is a deep ditch, and a strange woman is a narrow pit.
- 28She also waits like a predator, and increases the number of transgressors among men.
- 29Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has conflicts? Who has babbling? Who has wounds without reason? Who has red eyes?
- 30Those who linger long over wine, those who go to seek mixed wine.
- 31Do not gaze at the wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup, when it goes down smoothly.
- 32In the end, it bites like a snake and stings like a viper.
- 33Your eyes will look on strange women, and your heart will utter perverse things.
- 34Yes, you will be like someone who lies down in the middle of the sea, or like someone who lies on top of a mast.
- 35'They have struck me,' you will say, 'and I was not sick; they have beaten me, and I did not feel it. When shall I awake? I will seek it yet again.'