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

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.

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

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

Proverbs 23 :: English Standard Version (ESV)

ESV Footnotes

Proverbs Chapter 23 — Additional Translations:

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