Proverbs 23 - Meaning, Themes & Application

" When thou sittest to eat with a ruler, consider diligently what is before "

" And put a knife to thy throat, if thou be a man given to appetite. "

" Be not desirous of his dainties: for they are deceitful meat. "

" Labour not to be rich: cease from thine own wisdom. "

" Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not? for riches certainly make themselves wings; they fly away as an eagle toward heaven. "

" Eat thou not the bread of him that hath an evil eye, neither desire thou his dainty meats: "

" For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart "

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

" Speak not in the ears of a fool: for he will despise the wisdom of thy words. "

" Remove not the old landmark; and enter not into the fields of the fatherless: "

" For their redeemer is mighty; he shall plead their cause "

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

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

" Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell. "

" My son, if thine heart be wise, my heart shall rejoice, even mine. "

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

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

" For surely there is an end; and thine expectation shall not be cut off. "

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

" Be not among winebibbers; among riotous eaters of flesh: "

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

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

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

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

" Thy father and thy mother shall be glad, and she that bare thee shall rejoice. "

" My son, give me thine heart, and let thine eyes observe my ways. "

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

" She also lieth in wait as for a prey, and increaseth the transgressors among men. "

" Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who hath babbling? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes? "

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

" Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright. "

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

" Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thine heart shall utter perverse things. "

" Yea, thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea, or as he that lieth upon the top of a mast. "

" They have stricken me, shalt thou say, and I was not sick; they have beaten me, and I felt it not: when shall I awake? I will seek it yet "