Proverbs
23 When you sit down to eat with a king,
Carefully consider what is before you;
If you have a large appetite.*
3 Do not crave his delicacies,
For it is deceptive food.
4 Do not wear yourself out to gain wealth.+
Stop and show understanding.*
5 When you cast your eyes on it, it is not there,+
For it will surely sprout wings like an eagle and fly off into the sky.+
“Eat and drink,” he says to you, but he does not mean it.*
8 You will vomit up the morsels you have eaten
And will have wasted your compliments.
12 Apply your heart to discipline
And your ear to the sayings of knowledge.
13 Do not hold back discipline from a boy.*+
If you strike him with the rod, he will not die.
17 Let your heart not envy sinners,+
But be in the fear of Jehovah all day long,+
18 For then you will have a future+
And your hope will not be cut off.
19 Listen, my son, and become wise,
And direct your heart in the right way.
20 Do not be among those who drink too much wine,+
Among those who gorge themselves on meat,+
21 For a drunkard and a glutton will come to poverty,+
And drowsiness will clothe one with rags.
22 Listen to your father who caused your birth,
And do not despise your mother just because she has grown old.+
24 The father of a righteous one will surely be joyful;
Whoever fathers a wise son will rejoice in him.
25 Your father and your mother will rejoice,
And she who gave birth to you will be joyful.
29 Who has woe? Who has uneasiness?
Who has quarrels? Who has complaints?
Who has wounds for no reason? Who has bleary* eyes?
31 Do not look at the wine’s red color
As it sparkles in the cup and goes down smoothly,
32 For in the end it bites like a serpent,
And it secretes poison like a viper.
34 And you will be like one lying down in the middle of the sea,
Like one lying at the top of a ship’s mast.
35 You will say: “They have struck me, but I did not feel it.*
They beat me, but I did not know it.
When will I wake up?+
I need another drink.”*