Proverbs 23 :: English Standard Version (ESV)

Pro 23:1

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

Pro 23:2

Pro 23:2and put a knife to your throat
if you are given to appetite.

Pro 23:3

Pro 23:3Do not desire his delicacies,
for they are deceptive food.

Pro 23:4

Pro 23:4Do not toil to acquire wealth;
be discerning enough to desist.

Pro 23:5

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

Pro 23:6

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

Pro 23:7

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

Pro 23:8

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

Pro 23:9

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

Pro 23:10

Pro 23:10Do not move an ancient landmark
or enter the fields of the fatherless,

Pro 23:11

Pro 23:11for their Redeemer is strong;
he will plead their cause against you.

Pro 23:12

Pro 23:12Apply your heart to instruction
and your ear to words of knowledge.

Pro 23:13

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

Pro 23:14

Pro 23:14If you strike him with the rod,
you will save his soul from Sheol.

Pro 23:15

Pro 23:15My son, if your heart is wise,
my heart too will be glad.

Pro 23:16

Pro 23:16My inmost being[fn] will exult
when your lips speak what is right.

Pro 23:17

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

Pro 23:18

Pro 23:18Surely there is a future,
and your hope will not be cut off.

Pro 23:19

Pro 23:19Hear, my son, and be wise,
and direct your heart in the way.

Pro 23:20

Pro 23:20Be not among drunkards[fn]
or among gluttonous eaters of meat,

Pro 23:21

Pro 23:21for the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty,
and slumber will clothe them with rags.

Pro 23:22

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

Pro 23:23

Pro 23:23Buy truth, and do not sell it;
buy wisdom, instruction, and understanding.

Pro 23:24

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

Pro 23:25

Pro 23:25Let your father and mother be glad;
let her who bore you rejoice.

Pro 23:26

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

Pro 23:27

Pro 23:27For a prostitute is a deep pit;
an adulteress[fn] is a narrow well.

Pro 23:28

Pro 23:28She lies in wait like a robber
and increases the traitors among mankind.

Pro 23:29

Pro 23:29Who has woe? Who has sorrow?
Who has strife? Who has complaining?
Who has wounds without cause?
Who has redness of eyes?

Pro 23:30

Pro 23:30Those who tarry long over wine;
those who go to try mixed wine.

Pro 23:31

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

Pro 23:32

Pro 23:32In the end it bites like a serpent
and stings like an adder.

Pro 23:33

Pro 23:33Your eyes will see strange things,
and your heart utter perverse things.

Pro 23:34

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

Pro 23:35

Pro 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

(23:1)

Or who

(23:6)

Hebrew whose eye is evil

(23:7)

Or for as he calculates in his soul, so is he

(23:16)

Hebrew My kidneys

(23:20)

Hebrew those who drink too much wine

(23:26)

Or delight in

(23:27)

Hebrew a foreign woman

(23:34)

Or of the rigging

(23:35)

Hebrew lacks you will say

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