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The Blue Letter Bible

Proverbs 23 :: English Standard Version (ESV)

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Unchecked Copy Box Pro 23:1

Unchecked Copy BoxPro 23:1 - When you sit down to eat with a ruler,
observe carefully what[fn] is before you,

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Unchecked Copy Box Pro 23:2

Unchecked Copy BoxPro 23:2 - and put a knife to your throat
if you are given to appetite.

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Unchecked Copy Box Pro 23:3

Unchecked Copy BoxPro 23:3 - Do not desire his delicacies,
for they are deceptive food.

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Unchecked Copy Box Pro 23:4

Unchecked Copy BoxPro 23:4 - Do not toil to acquire wealth;
be discerning enough to desist.

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Unchecked Copy Box Pro 23:5

Unchecked Copy BoxPro 23:5 - When your eyes light on it, it is gone,
for suddenly it sprouts wings,
flying like an eagle toward heaven.

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Unchecked Copy Box Pro 23:6

Unchecked Copy BoxPro 23:6 - Do not eat the bread of a man who is stingy;[fn]
do not desire his delicacies,

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Unchecked Copy Box Pro 23:7

Unchecked Copy BoxPro 23:7 - for he is like one who is inwardly calculating.[fn]
“Eat and drink!” he says to you,
but his heart is not with you.

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Unchecked Copy Box Pro 23:8

Unchecked Copy BoxPro 23:8 - You will vomit up the morsels that you have eaten,
and waste your pleasant words.

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Unchecked Copy Box Pro 23:9

Unchecked Copy BoxPro 23:9 - Do not speak in the hearing of a fool,
for he will despise the good sense of your words.

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Unchecked Copy Box Pro 23:10

Unchecked Copy BoxPro 23:10 - Do not move an ancient landmark
or enter the fields of the fatherless,

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Unchecked Copy Box Pro 23:11

Unchecked Copy BoxPro 23:11 - for their Redeemer is strong;
he will plead their cause against you.

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Unchecked Copy Box Pro 23:12

Unchecked Copy BoxPro 23:12 - Apply your heart to instruction
and your ear to words of knowledge.

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Unchecked Copy Box Pro 23:13

Unchecked Copy BoxPro 23:13 - Do not withhold discipline from a child;
if you strike him with a rod, he will not die.

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Unchecked Copy Box Pro 23:14

Unchecked Copy BoxPro 23:14 - If you strike him with the rod,
you will save his soul from Sheol.

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Unchecked Copy Box Pro 23:15

Unchecked Copy BoxPro 23:15 - My son, if your heart is wise,
my heart too will be glad.

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Unchecked Copy Box Pro 23:16

Unchecked Copy BoxPro 23:16 - My inmost being[fn] will exult
when your lips speak what is right.

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Unchecked Copy Box Pro 23:17

Unchecked Copy BoxPro 23:17 - Let not your heart envy sinners,
but continue in the fear of the LORD all the day.

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Unchecked Copy Box Pro 23:18

Unchecked Copy BoxPro 23:18 - Surely there is a future,
and your hope will not be cut off.

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Unchecked Copy Box Pro 23:19

Unchecked Copy BoxPro 23:19 - Hear, my son, and be wise,
and direct your heart in the way.

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Unchecked Copy Box Pro 23:20

Unchecked Copy BoxPro 23:20 - Be not among drunkards[fn]
or among gluttonous eaters of meat,

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Unchecked Copy Box Pro 23:21

Unchecked Copy BoxPro 23:21 - for the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty,
and slumber will clothe them with rags.

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Unchecked Copy Box Pro 23:22

Unchecked Copy BoxPro 23:22 - Listen to your father who gave you life,
and do not despise your mother when she is old.

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Unchecked Copy Box Pro 23:23

Unchecked Copy BoxPro 23:23 - Buy truth, and do not sell it;
buy wisdom, instruction, and understanding.

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Unchecked Copy Box Pro 23:24

Unchecked Copy BoxPro 23:24 - The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice;
he who fathers a wise son will be glad in him.

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Unchecked Copy Box Pro 23:25

Unchecked Copy BoxPro 23:25 - Let your father and mother be glad;
let her who bore you rejoice.

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Unchecked Copy Box Pro 23:26

Unchecked Copy BoxPro 23:26 - My son, give me your heart,
and let your eyes observe[fn] my ways.

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Unchecked Copy Box Pro 23:27

Unchecked Copy BoxPro 23:27 - For a prostitute is a deep pit;
an adulteress[fn] is a narrow well.

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Unchecked Copy Box Pro 23:28

Unchecked Copy BoxPro 23:28 - She lies in wait like a robber
and increases the traitors among mankind.

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Unchecked Copy Box Pro 23:29

Unchecked Copy BoxPro 23:29 - Who has woe? Who has sorrow?
Who has strife? Who has complaining?
Who has wounds without cause?
Who has redness of eyes?

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Unchecked Copy Box Pro 23:30

Unchecked Copy BoxPro 23:30 - Those who tarry long over wine;
those who go to try mixed wine.

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Unchecked Copy Box Pro 23:31

Unchecked Copy BoxPro 23:31 - Do not look at wine when it is red,
when it sparkles in the cup
and goes down smoothly.

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Unchecked Copy Box Pro 23:32

Unchecked Copy BoxPro 23:32 - In the end it bites like a serpent
and stings like an adder.

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Unchecked Copy Box Pro 23:33

Unchecked Copy BoxPro 23:33 - Your eyes will see strange things,
and your heart utter perverse things.

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Unchecked Copy Box Pro 23:34

Unchecked Copy BoxPro 23:34 - You will be like one who lies down in the midst of the sea,
like one who lies on the top of a mast.[fn]

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Unchecked Copy Box Pro 23:35

Unchecked Copy BoxPro 23:35 - “They struck me,” you will say,[fn] “but I was not hurt;
they beat me, but I did not feel it.
When shall I awake?
I must have another drink.”
See the ESV Preface (Especially for Parenthesis, Brackets, & Asterisks).
ESV Footnotes
Or who
Hebrew whose eye is evil
Or for as he calculates in his soul, so is he
Hebrew My kidneys
Hebrew those who drink too much wine
Or delight in
Hebrew a foreign woman
Or of the rigging
Hebrew lacks you will say
ESV

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version copyright © 2001, 2007, 2011, 2016 by Crossway Books and Bibles, a Publishing Ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

See detailed copyright information.

For more information on this translation, see the ESV Preface.

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Proverbs Chapter 23 — Additional Translations:

King James Version New King James Version New Living Translation New International Version Christian Standard Bible New American Standard Bible 2020 New American Standard Bible 1995 Legacy Standard Bible Amplified Bible New English Translation Revised Standard Version American Standard Version Young's Literal Translation Darby Translation Webster's Bible Hebrew Names Version Latin Vulgate Westminster Leningrad Codex Septuagint Smith Van Dyck Arabic Bible Open New Arabic Version Brenton's English Septuagint Reina Valera 1909 Reina-Valera 1960 Bible in Basic English Chinese Traditional Union Espanol Moderno Korean Holy Bible Louis Segond German Luther Russian Synodal Translation Sagradas Escrituras