Proverbs 23:1-35 NASBS

[1] When you sit down to dine with a ruler, Consider carefully what is before you, [2] And put a knife to your throat If you are a man of great appetite. [3] Do not desire his delicacies, For it is deceptive food. [4] Do not weary yourself to gain wealth, Cease from your consideration of it. [5] When you set your eyes on it, it is gone. For wealth certainly makes itself wings Like an eagle that flies toward the heavens. [6] Do not eat the bread of a selfish man, Or desire his delicacies; [7] For as he thinks within himself, so he is. He says to you, "Eat and drink!" But his heart is not with you. [8] You will vomit up the morsel you have eaten, And waste your compliments. [9] Do not speak in the hearing of a fool, For he will despise the wisdom of your words. [10] Do not move the ancient boundary Or go into the fields of the fatherless, [11] For their Redeemer is strong; He will plead their case against you. [12] Apply your heart to discipline And your ears to words of knowledge. [13] Do not hold back discipline from the child, Although you strike him with the rod, he will not die. [14] You shall strike him with the rod And rescue his soul from Sheol. [15] My son, if your heart is wise, My own heart also will be glad; [16] And my inmost being will rejoice When your lips speak what is right. [17] Do not let your heart envy sinners, But live in the fear of the LORD always. [18] Surely there is a future, And your hope will not be cut off. [19] Listen, my son, and be wise, And direct your heart in the way. [20] Do not be with heavy drinkers of wine, Or with gluttonous eaters of meat; [21] For the heavy drinker and the glutton will come to poverty, And drowsiness will clothe one with rags. [22] Listen to your father who begot you, And do not despise your mother when she is old. [23] Buy truth, and do not sell it, Get wisdom and instruction and understanding. [24] The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice, And he who sires a wise son will be glad in him. [25] Let your father and your mother be glad, And let her rejoice who gave birth to you. [26] Give me your heart, my son, And let your eyes delight in my ways. [27] For a harlot is a deep pit And an adulterous woman is a narrow well. [28] Surely she lurks as a robber, And increases the faithless among men. [29] Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has complaining? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes? [30] Those who linger long over wine, Those who go to taste mixed wine. [31] Do not look on the wine when it is red, When it sparkles in the cup, When it goes down smoothly; [32] At the last it bites like a serpent And stings like a viper. [33] Your eyes will see strange things And your mind will utter perverse things. [34] And you will be like one who lies down in the middle of the sea, Or like one who lies down on the top of a mast. [35] "They struck me, but I did not become ill; They beat me, but I did not know it. When shall I awake? I will seek another drink."