Proverbs 23 :: New King James Version (NKJV)

Listen to Your Father

Pro 23:1

Pro 23:1When you sit down to eat with a ruler,
Consider carefully what is before you;

Pro 23:2

Pro 23:2And put a knife to your throat
If you are a man 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 overwork to be rich;
Because of your own understanding, cease!

Pro 23:5

Pro 23:5Will you set your eyes on that which is not?
For riches certainly make themselves wings;
They fly away like an eagle toward heaven.

Pro 23:6

Pro 23:6Do not eat the bread of a miser,[fn]
Nor desire his delicacies;

Pro 23:7

Pro 23:7For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.
“Eat and drink!” he says to you,
But his heart is not with you.

Pro 23:8

Pro 23:8The morsel you have eaten, you will vomit up,
And waste your pleasant words.

Pro 23:9

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

Pro 23:10

Pro 23:10Do not remove the ancient landmark,
Nor enter the fields of the fatherless;

Pro 23:11

Pro 23:11For their Redeemer is mighty;
He will plead their cause against you.

Pro 23:12

Pro 23:12Apply your heart to instruction,
And your ears to words of knowledge.

Pro 23:13

Pro 23:13Do not withhold correction from a child,
For if you beat him with a rod, he will not die.

Pro 23:14

Pro 23:14You shall beat him with a rod,
And deliver his soul from hell.[fn]

Pro 23:15

Pro 23:15My son, if your heart is wise,
My heart will rejoice—indeed, I myself;

Pro 23:16

Pro 23:16Yes, my inmost being will rejoice
When your lips speak right things.

Pro 23:17

Pro 23:17Do not let your heart envy sinners,
But be zealous for the fear of the LORD all the day;

Pro 23:18

Pro 23:18For surely there is a hereafter,
And your hope will not be cut off.

Pro 23:19

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

Pro 23:20

Pro 23:20Do not mix with winebibbers,
Or with gluttonous eaters of meat;

Pro 23:21

Pro 23:21For the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty,
And drowsiness will clothe a man with rags.

Pro 23:22

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

Pro 23:23

Pro 23:23Buy the truth, and do not sell it,
Also wisdom and instruction and understanding.

Pro 23:24

Pro 23:24The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice,
And he who begets a wise child will delight in him.

Pro 23:25

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

Pro 23:26

Pro 23:26My son, give me your heart,
And let your eyes observe my ways.

Pro 23:27

Pro 23:27For a harlot is a deep pit,
And a seductress is a narrow well.

Pro 23:28

Pro 23:28She also lies in wait as for a victim,
And increases the unfaithful among men.

Pro 23:29

Pro 23:29Who has woe?
Who has sorrow?
Who has contentions?
Who has complaints?
Who has wounds without cause?
Who has redness of eyes?

Pro 23:30

Pro 23:30Those who linger long at the wine,
Those who go in search of mixed wine.

Pro 23:31

Pro 23:31Do not look on the wine when it is red,
When it sparkles in the cup,
When it swirls around smoothly;

Pro 23:32

Pro 23:32At the last it bites like a serpent,
And stings like a viper.

Pro 23:33

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

Pro 23:34

Pro 23:34Yes, you will be like one who lies down in the midst of the sea,
Or like one who lies at the top of the mast, saying:

Pro 23:35

Pro 23:35“They have struck me, but I was not hurt;
They have beaten me, but I did not feel it.
When shall I awake, that I may seek another drink?”

See the NKJV Preface (Especially for Parenthesis, Brackets, & Asterisks).

NKJV Footnotes

(23:6)

Literally one who has an evil eye

(23:14)

Or Sheol

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

Proverbs Chapter 23 — Additional Translations:

King James Version New Living Translation New International Version English Standard 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 :: New King James Version (NKJV)

NKJV Footnotes

Proverbs Chapter 23 — Additional Translations:

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