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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1" /><title>Proverbs 23 ESV</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/chapnew2.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /></head><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/proverbs/23.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="../topmenuchap/proverbs/23-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="http://biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="../">ESV</a> > Proverbs 23</div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../proverbs/22.htm" title="Proverbs 22">◄</a> Proverbs 23 <a href="../proverbs/24.htm" title="Proverbs 24">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading"><table width="100%"><tr><td width="99%" valign="top">English Standard Version</td><td width="1%" valign="top"><a href="/p/esv/nas/proverbs/23.shtml" style="color:#001320" title="Parallel Chapters"> Par ▾ </a></tr></table></div></a><div class="chap"><a href="http://biblehub.com/proverbs/23-1.htm">1</a>When you sit down to eat with a ruler, observe carefully what<a href="#footnotes" title="Or who">a</a> is before you, <a href="http://biblehub.com/proverbs/23-2.htm">2</a>and put a knife to your throat if you are given to appetite. <a href="http://biblehub.com/proverbs/23-3.htm">3</a>Do not desire his delicacies, for they are deceptive food. <a href="http://biblehub.com/proverbs/23-4.htm">4</a>Do not toil to acquire wealth; be discerning enough to desist. <a href="http://biblehub.com/proverbs/23-5.htm">5</a>When your eyes light on it, it is gone, for suddenly it sprouts wings, flying like an eagle toward heaven. <a href="http://biblehub.com/proverbs/23-6.htm">6</a>Do not eat the bread of a man who is stingy;<a href="#footnotes" title="Hebrew whose eye is evil">b</a> do not desire his delicacies, <a href="http://biblehub.com/proverbs/23-7.htm">7</a>for he is like one who is inwardly calculating.<a href="#footnotes" title="Or for as he calculates in his soul, so is he">c</a> “Eat and drink!” he says to you, but his heart is not with you. <a href="http://biblehub.com/proverbs/23-8.htm">8</a>You will vomit up the morsels that you have eaten, and waste your pleasant words. <a href="http://biblehub.com/proverbs/23-9.htm">9</a>Do not speak in the hearing of a fool, for he will despise the good sense of your words. <a href="http://biblehub.com/proverbs/23-10.htm">10</a>Do not move an ancient landmark or enter the fields of the fatherless, <a href="http://biblehub.com/proverbs/23-11.htm">11</a>for their Redeemer is strong; he will plead their cause against you. <a href="http://biblehub.com/proverbs/23-12.htm">12</a>Apply your heart to instruction and your ear to words of knowledge. <a href="http://biblehub.com/proverbs/23-13.htm">13</a>Do not withhold discipline from a child; if you strike him with a rod, he will not die. <a href="http://biblehub.com/proverbs/23-14.htm">14</a>If you strike him with the rod, you will save his soul from Sheol. <a href="http://biblehub.com/proverbs/23-15.htm">15</a>My son, if your heart is wise, my heart too will be glad. <a href="http://biblehub.com/proverbs/23-16.htm">16</a>My inmost being<a href="#footnotes" title="Hebrew My kidneys">d</a> will exult when your lips speak what is right. <a href="http://biblehub.com/proverbs/23-17.htm">17</a>Let not your heart envy sinners, but continue in the fear of the Lord all the day. <a href="http://biblehub.com/proverbs/23-18.htm">18</a>Surely there is a future, and your hope will not be cut off. <a href="http://biblehub.com/proverbs/23-19.htm">19</a>Hear, my son, and be wise, and direct your heart in the way. <a href="http://biblehub.com/proverbs/23-20.htm">20</a>Be not among drunkards<a href="#footnotes" title="Hebrew those who drink too much wine">e</a> or among gluttonous eaters of meat, <a href="http://biblehub.com/proverbs/23-21.htm">21</a>for the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty, and slumber will clothe them with rags. <a href="http://biblehub.com/proverbs/23-22.htm">22</a>Listen to your father who gave you life, and do not despise your mother when she is old. <a href="http://biblehub.com/proverbs/23-23.htm">23</a>Buy truth, and do not sell it; buy wisdom, instruction, and understanding. <a href="http://biblehub.com/proverbs/23-24.htm">24</a>The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice; he who fathers a wise son will be glad in him. <a href="http://biblehub.com/proverbs/23-25.htm">25</a>Let your father and mother be glad; let her who bore you rejoice. <a href="http://biblehub.com/proverbs/23-26.htm">26</a>My son, give me your heart, and let your eyes observe<a href="#footnotes" title="Or delight in">f</a> my ways. <a href="http://biblehub.com/proverbs/23-27.htm">27</a>For a prostitute is a deep pit; an adulteress<a href="#footnotes" title="Hebrew a foreign woman">g</a> is a narrow well. <a href="http://biblehub.com/proverbs/23-28.htm">28</a>She lies in wait like a robber and increases the traitors among mankind. <a href="http://biblehub.com/proverbs/23-29.htm">29</a>Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has strife? Who has complaining? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes? <a href="http://biblehub.com/proverbs/23-30.htm">30</a>Those who tarry long over wine; those who go to try mixed wine. <a href="http://biblehub.com/proverbs/23-31.htm">31</a>Do not look at wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup and goes down smoothly. <a href="http://biblehub.com/proverbs/23-32.htm">32</a>In the end it bites like a serpent and stings like an adder. <a href="http://biblehub.com/proverbs/23-33.htm">33</a>Your eyes will see strange things, and your heart utter perverse things. <a href="http://biblehub.com/proverbs/23-34.htm">34</a>You will be like one who lies down in the midst of the sea, like one who lies on the top of a mast.<a href="#footnotes" title="Or of the rigging">h</a> <a href="http://biblehub.com/proverbs/23-35.htm">35</a>“They struck me,” you will say,<a href="#footnotes" title="Hebrew lacks you will say">i</a> “but I was not hurt; they beat me, but I did not feel it. When shall I awake? I must have another drink.” <A name="footnotes"></a><hr size="1" color="DDEEFF">Footnotes: a 1 Or who b 6 Hebrew whose eye is evil c 7 Or for as he calculates in his soul, so is he d 16 Hebrew My kidneys e 20 Hebrew those who drink too much wine f 26 Or delight in g 27 Hebrew a foreign woman h 34 Or of the rigging i 35 Hebrew lacks you will say </div></div><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center">ESV Text Edition® (2016). The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®) copyright © 2001 by <a href="http://www.crossway.org/home/esv/">Crossway Bibles</a>, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. The ESV® text has been reproduced in cooperation with and by permission of Good News Publishers. Unauthorized reproduction of this publication is prohibited. All rights reserved. The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®) is adapted from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. 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