Proverbs 23:7-34

⁷For as the thoughts of his heart are, so is he: Take food and drink, he says to you; but his heart is not with you.

⁸The food which you have taken will come up again, and your pleasing words will be wasted.

⁹Say nothing in the hearing of a foolish man, for he will put no value on the wisdom of your words.

¹⁰Do not let the landmark of the widow be moved, and do not go into the fields of those who have no father;

¹¹For their saviour is strong, and he will take up their cause against you.

¹²Give your heart to teaching, and your ears to the words of knowledge.

¹³Do not keep back training from the child: for even if you give him blows with the rod, it will not be death to him.

¹⁴Give him blows with the rod, and keep his soul safe from the underworld.

¹⁵My son, if your heart becomes wise, I, even I, will be glad in heart;

¹⁶And my thoughts in me will be full of joy when your lips say right things.

¹⁷Have no envy of sinners in your heart, but keep in the fear of the Lord all through the day;

¹⁸For without doubt there is a future, and your hope will not be cut off.

¹⁹Give ear, my son, and be wise, guiding your heart in the right way.

²⁰Do not be among those who give themselves to wine-drinking, or among those who make themselves full with meat:

²¹For those who take delight in drink and feasting will come to be in need; and through love of sleep a man will be poorly clothed.

²²Give ear to your father whose child you are, and do not keep honour from your mother when she is old.

²³Get for yourself that which is true, and do not let it go for money; get wisdom and teaching and good sense.

²⁴The father of the upright man will be glad, and he who has a wise child will have joy because of him.

²⁵Let your father and your mother be glad, let her who gave you birth have joy.

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

²⁷For a loose woman is a deep hollow, and a strange woman is a narrow water-hole.

²⁸Yes, she is waiting secretly like a beast for its food, and deceit by her is increased among men.

²⁹Who says, Oh! who says, Ah! who has violent arguments, who has grief, who has wounds without cause, whose eyes are dark?

³⁰Those who are seated late over the wine: those who go looking for mixed wine.

³¹Keep your eyes from looking on the wine when it is red, when its colour is bright in the cup, when it goes smoothly down:

³²In the end, its bite is like that of a snake, its wound like the wound of a poison-snake.

³³Your eyes will see strange things, and you will say twisted things.

³⁴Yes, you will be like him who takes his rest on the sea, or on the top of a sail-support.