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Proverbs 23 :: New King James Version (NKJV)

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Listen to Your Father
Unchecked Copy BoxPro 23:1 - When you sit down to eat with a ruler,
Consider carefully what is before you;
Unchecked Copy BoxPro 23:2 - And put a knife to your throat
If you are a man given to appetite.
Unchecked Copy BoxPro 23:3 - Do not desire his delicacies,
For they are deceptive food.
Unchecked Copy BoxPro 23:4 - Do not overwork to be rich;
Because of your own understanding, cease!
Unchecked Copy BoxPro 23:5 - Will you set your eyes on that which is not?
For riches certainly make themselves wings;
They fly away like an eagle toward heaven.
Unchecked Copy BoxPro 23:6 - Do not eat the bread of a miser,[fn]
Nor desire his delicacies;
Unchecked Copy BoxPro 23:7 - For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.
“Eat and drink!” he says to you,
But his heart is not with you.
Unchecked Copy BoxPro 23:8 - The morsel you have eaten, you will vomit up,
And waste your pleasant words.
Unchecked Copy BoxPro 23:9 - Do not speak in the hearing of a fool,
For he will despise the wisdom of your words.
Unchecked Copy BoxPro 23:10 - Do not remove the ancient landmark,
Nor enter the fields of the fatherless;
Unchecked Copy BoxPro 23:11 - For their Redeemer is mighty;
He will plead their cause against you.
Unchecked Copy BoxPro 23:12 - Apply your heart to instruction,
And your ears to words of knowledge.
Unchecked Copy BoxPro 23:13 - Do not withhold correction from a child,
For if you beat him with a rod, he will not die.
Unchecked Copy BoxPro 23:14 - You shall beat him with a rod,
And deliver his soul from hell.[fn]
Unchecked Copy BoxPro 23:15 - My son, if your heart is wise,
My heart will rejoice—indeed, I myself;
Unchecked Copy BoxPro 23:16 - Yes, my inmost being will rejoice
When your lips speak right things.
Unchecked Copy BoxPro 23:17 - Do not let your heart envy sinners,
But be zealous for the fear of the LORD all the day;
Unchecked Copy BoxPro 23:18 - For surely there is a hereafter,
And your hope will not be cut off.
Unchecked Copy BoxPro 23:19 - Hear, my son, and be wise;
And guide your heart in the way.
Unchecked Copy BoxPro 23:20 - Do not mix with winebibbers,
Or with gluttonous eaters of meat;
Unchecked Copy BoxPro 23:21 - For the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty,
And drowsiness will clothe a man with rags.
Unchecked Copy BoxPro 23:22 - Listen to your father who begot you,
And do not despise your mother when she is old.
Unchecked Copy BoxPro 23:23 - Buy the truth, and do not sell it,
Also wisdom and instruction and understanding.
Unchecked Copy BoxPro 23:24 - The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice,
And he who begets a wise child will delight in him.
Unchecked Copy BoxPro 23:25 - Let your father and your mother be glad,
And let her who bore you rejoice.
Unchecked Copy BoxPro 23:26 - My son, give me your heart,
And let your eyes observe my ways.
Unchecked Copy BoxPro 23:27 - For a harlot is a deep pit,
And a seductress is a narrow well.
Unchecked Copy BoxPro 23:28 - She also lies in wait as for a victim,
And increases the unfaithful among men.
Unchecked Copy BoxPro 23:29 - Who has woe?
Who has sorrow?
Who has contentions?
Who has complaints?
Who has wounds without cause?
Who has redness of eyes?
Unchecked Copy BoxPro 23:30 - Those who linger long at the wine,
Those who go in search of mixed wine.
Unchecked Copy BoxPro 23:31 - Do not look on the wine when it is red,
When it sparkles in the cup,
When it swirls around smoothly;
Unchecked Copy BoxPro 23:32 - At the last it bites like a serpent,
And stings like a viper.
Unchecked Copy BoxPro 23:33 - Your eyes will see strange things,
And your heart will utter perverse things.
Unchecked Copy BoxPro 23:34 - Yes, you will be like one who lies down in the midst of the sea,
Or like one who lies at the top of the mast, saying:
Unchecked Copy BoxPro 23:35 - “They have struck me, but I was not hurt;
They have beaten me, but I did not feel it.
When shall I awake, that I may seek another drink?
NKJV Footnotes
Literally one who has an evil eye
Or Sheol
NKJV

New King James Version, © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.

The text of the New King James Version (NKJV) appearing on or deriving from this or any other web page is for personal use only. Any other use of the NKJV must be in conformity with the Quotation Policy for the New King James Version. For more information about the New King James Version, the Quotation Policy, and for inquiries about permission to use the New King James Version, go to Thomas Nelson, Inc..

For more information on this translation, see the NKJV Preface.

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