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Proverbs 23 :: New American Standard Bible 1995 (NASB95)

On Life and Conduct

Pro 23:1When you sit down to dine with a ruler,
Consider carefully [fn]what is before you,
Pro 23:2And put a knife to your throat
If you are a man of great appetite.
Pro 23:3Do not desire his delicacies,
For it is deceptive food.
Pro 23:4Do not weary yourself to gain wealth,
Cease from your [fn]consideration of it.
Pro 23:5[fn]When you set your eyes on it, it is gone.
For wealth certainly makes itself wings
Like an eagle that flies toward the heavens.
Pro 23:6Do not eat the bread of [fn]a selfish man,
Or desire his delicacies;
Pro 23:7For as he [fn]thinks within himself, so he is.
He says to you, “Eat and drink!”
But his heart is not with you.
Pro 23:8You will vomit up [fn]the morsel you have eaten,
And waste your [fn]compliments.
Pro 23:9Do not speak in the [fn]hearing of a fool,
For he will despise the wisdom of your words.
Pro 23:10Do not move the ancient boundary
Or go into the fields of the fatherless,
Pro 23:11For their Redeemer is strong;
He will plead their case against you.
Pro 23:12Apply your heart to discipline
And your ears to words of knowledge.
Pro 23:13Do not hold back discipline from the child,
Although you [fn]strike him with the rod, he will not die.
Pro 23:14You shall [fn]strike him with the rod
And rescue his soul from Sheol.
Pro 23:15My son, if your heart is wise,
My own heart also will be glad;
Pro 23:16And my [fn]inmost being will rejoice
When your lips speak what is right.
Pro 23:17Do not let your heart envy sinners,
But live in the [fn]fear of the LORD [fn]always.
Pro 23:18Surely there is a [fn]future,
And your hope will not be cut off.
Pro 23:19Listen, my son, and be wise,
And direct your heart in the way.
Pro 23:20Do not be with heavy drinkers of wine,
Or with gluttonous eaters of meat;
Pro 23:21For the heavy drinker and the glutton will come to poverty,
And drowsiness will clothe one with rags.
Pro 23:22Listen to your father who begot you,
And do not despise your mother when she is old.
Pro 23:23Buy truth, and do not sell it,
Get wisdom and instruction and understanding.
Pro 23:24The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice,
And he who sires a wise son will be glad in him.
Pro 23:25Let your father and your mother be glad,
And let her rejoice who gave birth to you.
Pro 23:26Give me your heart, my son,
And let your eyes [fn]delight in my ways.
Pro 23:27For a harlot is a deep pit
And an [fn]adulterous woman is a narrow well.
Pro 23:28Surely she lurks as a robber,
And increases the [fn]faithless among men.
Pro 23:29Who has woe? Who has sorrow?
Who has contentions? Who has complaining?
Who has wounds without cause?
Who has redness of eyes?
Pro 23:30Those who linger long over wine,
Those who go to [fn]taste mixed wine.
Pro 23:31Do not look on the wine when it is red,
When it [fn]sparkles in the cup,
When it goes down smoothly;
Pro 23:32At the last it bites like a serpent
And stings like a viper.
Pro 23:33Your eyes will see strange things
And your [fn]mind will utter perverse things.
Pro 23:34And you will be like one who lies down in the [fn]middle of the sea,
Or like one who lies down on the top of a [fn]mast.
Pro 23:35“They struck me, but I did not become [fn]ill;
They beat me, but I did not know it.
When shall I awake?
I will seek [fn]another drink.”
NASB95 Footnotes
Or, who
Or, understanding
Literally: Will your eyes fly upon it and it is not?
Literally: an evil eye
Literally: reckons in his soul
Literally: your
Literally: pleasant words
Literally: ears
Literally: smite
Literally: smite
Literally: kidneys
Or, reverence
Literally: all the day
Literally: latter end
Another reading is observe
Literally: strange
Literally: treacherous
Or, search out
Literally: gives its eye
Literally: heart
Literally: heart
Or, lookout
I.e. from the effect of wounds
Literally: it yet again
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New American Standard Bible 1995
Copyright (c) 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995
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Proverbs Chapter 23 — Additional Translations: