Pro 23 | HCSB | STEP | When you sit down to dine with a ruler , consider carefully what is before you,

Proverbs 23

1 When you sit down to dine with a ruler,

consider carefully what ^{▼▼Or who} is before you,
2 and put a knife to your throat
if you have a big ^{▼▼Lit you are the master of an} appetite;
3 don’t desire his choice food, ^c
for that food is deceptive.

4 Don’t wear yourself out to get rich; ^d
stop giving your attention to it.
5 As soon as your eyes fly to it, it disappears, ^e
for it makes wings for itself
and flies like an eagle to the sky.

6 Don’t eat a stingy person’s bread, ^{▼▼Lit eat bread of an evil eye
,} ^g
and don’t desire his choice food, ^h
7 for it’s like someone calculating inwardly. ^{▼▼LXX reads it is like someone swallowing a hair in the throat
,} ^j
“Eat and drink,” he says to you,
but his heart is not with you. ^k
8 You will vomit the little you’ve eaten
and waste your pleasant words.

9 Don’t speak to ^{▼▼Lit in the ears of} a fool,
for he will despise the insight of your words. ^m

10 Don’t move an ancient boundary marker, ⁿ
and don’t encroach on the fields of the fatherless,
11 for their Redeemer is strong, ^o
and He will take up their case against you. ^p

12 Apply yourself to discipline
and listen to words of knowledge.

13 Don’t withhold discipline from a youth;
if you beat him with a rod, he will not die. ^q
14 Strike him with a rod,
and you will rescue his life from ^{▼▼Sheol: A Hebrew word for either the grave or the realm of the dead}Sheol. ^s

15 My son, if your heart is wise,
my heart will indeed rejoice. ^t
16 My innermost being will cheer
when your lips say what is right. ^u

17 Don’t let your heart envy sinners; ^v
instead, always ^{▼▼fear(s) God or the Lord/ the fear of the Lord: No single English word conveys every aspect of the word fear in this phrase. The meaning includes worshipful submission, reverential awe, and obedient respect to the covenant-keeping God of Israel.}fear the Lord. ^x
18 For then you will have a future,
and your hope will never fade. ^y

19 Listen, my son, and be wise;
keep your mind on the right course.
20 Don’t associate with those who drink too much wine ^z
or with those who gorge themselves on meat. ^aa
21 For the drunkard and the glutton will become poor,
and grogginess will clothe them in rags. ^ab

22 Listen to your father who gave you life,
and don’t despise your mother when ^{▼▼Or because} she is old. ^ad
23 Buy – and do not sell – truth,
wisdom, instruction, and understanding. ^ae
24 The father of a righteous son will rejoice greatly,
and one who fathers a wise son will delight in him. ^af
25 Let your father and mother have joy, ^ag
and let her who gave birth to you rejoice.

26 My son, give me your heart,
and let your eyes observe my ways.
27 For a prostitute is a deep pit, ^ah
and a stranger is a narrow well;
28 indeed, she sets an ambush like a robber ^ai
and increases those among men who are unfaithful.

29 Who has woe? Who has sorrow?
Who has conflicts? Who has complaints?
Who has wounds for no reason? ^aj
Who has red eyes?
30 Those who linger over wine,
those who go looking for mixed wine. ^ak
31 Don’t gaze at wine because it is red, ^al
when it gleams in the cup
and goes down smoothly. ^am
32 In the end it bites like a snake
and stings like a viper.
33 Your eyes will see strange things,
and you will say absurd things. ^{▼▼Or will speak perversities or inverted things
,} ^ao
34 You’ll be like someone sleeping out at sea
or lying down on the top of a ship’s mast.
35 “They struck me, but ^{▼▼LXX, Syr, Tg, Vg read me,” you will say, “But} I feel no pain!
They beat me, but I didn’t know it! ^aq
When will I wake up?
I’ll look for another drink.” ^ar