Proverbs 23 — KJVCP

23Verse 1When thou sittest to eat with a ruler,
Consider diligently what is before thee:
^{Verse 2}And put a knife to thy throat,
If thou be a man given to appetite.
^{Verse 3}Be not desirous of his dainties:
For they are deceitful meat.
^{Verse 4}Labour not to be rich:
Cease from thine own wisdom.
^{Verse 5}Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not?
For riches certainly make themselves wings;
They fly away as an eagle toward heaven.^{Verse 6}Eat thou not the bread of him that hath an evil eye,
Neither desire thou his dainty meats:
^{Verse 7}For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he:
Eat and drink, saith he to thee;
But his heart is not with thee.
^{Verse 8}The morsel which thou hast eaten shalt thou vomit up,
And lose thy sweet words.
^{Verse 9}Speak not in the ears of a fool:
For he will despise the wisdom of thy words.
^{Verse 10}Remove not the old landmark;
And enter not into the fields of the fatherless:
^{Verse 11}For their Redeemer is mighty;
He shall plead their cause with thee.
^{Verse 12}Apply thine heart unto instruction,
And thine ears to the words of knowledge.
^{Verse 13}Withhold not correction from the child:
For if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die.
^{Verse 14}Thou shalt beat him with the rod,
And shalt deliver his soul from hell.^{Verse 15}My son, if thine heart be wise,
My heart shall rejoice, even mine.
^{Verse 16}Yea, my reins shall rejoice,
When thy lips speak right things.
^{Verse 17}Let not thine heart envy sinners:
But be thou in the fear of the Lord all the day long.
^{Verse 18}For surely there is an end;
And thine expectation shall not be cut off.
^{Verse 19}Hear thou, my son, and be wise,
And guide thine heart in the way.
^{Verse 20}Be not amongst winebibbers;
Amongst riotous eaters of flesh:
^{Verse 21}For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty:
And drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags.^{Verse 22}Hearken unto thy father that begat thee,
And despise not thy mother when she is old.
^{Verse 23}Buy the truth, and sell it not;
Also wisdom, and instruction, and understanding.
^{Verse 24}The father of the righteous shall greatly rejoice:
And he that begetteth a wise child shall have joy of him.
^{Verse 25}Thy father and thy mother shall be glad,
And she that bare thee shall rejoice.
^{Verse 26}My son, give me thine heart,
And let thine eyes observe my ways.
^{Verse 27}For a whore is a deep ditch;
And a strange woman is a narrow pit.
^{Verse 28}She also lieth in wait as for a prey,
And increaseth the transgressors among men.^{Verse 29}Who hath woe? who hath sorrow?
Who hath contentions? who hath babbling?
Who hath wounds without cause?
Who hath redness of eyes?
^{Verse 30}They that tarry long at the wine;
They that go to seek mixt wine.
^{Verse 31}Look not thou upon the wine when it is red,
When it giveth his colour in the cup,
When it moveth itself aright.
^{Verse 32}At the last it biteth like a serpent,
And stingeth like an adder.
^{Verse 33}Thine eyes shall behold strange women,
And thine heart shall utter perverse things.
^{Verse 34}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.
^{Verse 35}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 again.