Proverbs 23:4-19

⁴Don’t weary yourself to be rich. In your wisdom, show restraint.

⁵Why do you set your eyes on that which is not? For it certainly sprouts wings like an eagle and flies in the sky.

⁶Don’t eat the food of him who has a stingy eye, and don’t crave his delicacies,

⁷for as he thinks about the cost, so he is. “Eat and drink!” he says to you, but his heart is not with you.

⁸You will vomit up the morsel which you have eaten and waste your pleasant words.

⁹Don’t speak in the ears of a fool, for he will despise the wisdom of your words.

¹⁰Don’t move the ancient boundary stone. Don’t encroach on the fields of the fatherless,

¹¹for their Defender is strong. He will plead their case against you.

¹²Apply your heart to instruction, and your ears to the words of knowledge.

¹³Don’t withhold correction from a child. If you punish him with the rod, he will not die.

¹⁴Punish him with the rod, and save his soul from Sheol.

¹⁵My son, if your heart is wise, then my heart will be glad, even mine.

¹⁶Yes, my heart will rejoice when your lips speak what is right.

¹⁷Don’t let your heart envy sinners, but rather fear the LORD all day long.

¹⁸Indeed surely there is a future hope, and your hope will not be cut off.

¹⁹Listen, my son, and be wise, and keep your heart on the right path!