PROVERBS 23:7-32

⁷For as he reckoneth within himself, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee.

⁸The morsel which thou hast eaten shalt thou vomit up, and lose thy sweet words.

⁹Speak not in the hearing of a fool; for he will despise the wisdom of thy words.

¹⁰Remove not the ancient landmark; and enter not into the fields of the fatherless:

¹¹For their redeemer is strong; he shall plead their cause against thee.

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

¹³Withhold not correction from the child: for if thou beat him with the rod, he shall not die.

¹⁴Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from Sheol.

¹⁵My son, if thine heart be wise, my heart shall be glad, even mine:

¹⁶Yea, my reins shall rejoice, when thy lips speak right things.

¹⁷Let not thine heart envy sinners: but be thou in the fear of the LORD all the day long:

¹⁸For surely there is a reward; and thy hope shall not be cut off.

¹⁹Hear thou, my son, and be wise, and guide thine heart in the way.

²⁰Be not among winebibbers; among gluttonous eaters of flesh:

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

²²Hearken unto thy father that begat thee, and despise not thy mother when she is old.

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

²⁴The father of the righteous shall greatly rejoice: and he that begetteth a wise child shall have joy of him.

²⁵Let thy father and thy mother be glad, and let her that bare thee rejoice.

²⁶My son, give me thine heart, and let thine eyes delight in my ways.

²⁷For a whore is a deep ditch; and a strange woman is a narrow pit.

²⁸Yea, she lieth in wait as a robber, and increaseth the treacherous among men.

²⁹Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who hath complaining? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes?

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

³¹Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth its colour in the cup, when it goeth down smoothly.

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