Proverbs 23:15-35

¹⁵My son, if thy heart be wise, My heart shall rejoice, even mine;

¹⁶Yea, my reins shall exult, When thy lips speak right things.

¹⁷Let not thy heart envy sinners, But continue thou in the fear of the LORD all the day long;

¹⁸For surely there shall be a reward, And thine expectation shall not be cut off.

¹⁹Hear thou, my son, and be wise; And let thy heart go forward in the way!

²⁰Be not thou among winebibbers, And riotous eaters of flesh;

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

²²Hearken to thy father, who begat thee, And despise not thy mother when she is old.

²³Buy the truth, and sell it not; Buy wisdom and instruction and understanding.

²⁴The father of a righteous man shall greatly rejoice; Yea, he who begetteth a wise child shall have joy in him.

²⁵Let thy father and thy mother have joy; Yea, let her that bore thee rejoice!

²⁶My son, give me thy heart, And let thine eyes observe my ways!

²⁷For a harlot is a deep ditch; Yea, a strange woman is a narrow pit.

²⁸Like a robber she lieth in wait, And increaseth the treacherous among men.

²⁹Who hath woe? Who hath sorrow? Who contentions? Who anxiety? Who wounds without cause? Who dimness of eyes?

³⁰They that tarry long at the wine; They that go in to seek mixed wine.

³¹Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, When it sparkleth in the cup, When it goeth down smoothly.

³²At the last it biteth like a serpent, And stingeth like an adder.

³³Thine eyes will look upon strange women, And thy heart will utter perverse things.

³⁴Yea, thou shalt be as one that lieth down in the midst of the sea, And as one that lieth down upon the top of a mast.

³⁵They have stricken me shalt thou say,—I suffered no pain! They have beaten me,—I felt it not! When shall I awake? I will seek it yet again.