Proverbs 23

Proverbs 23:2

Put a knife to thy throat, if thou be a man given to appetite.

Be careful, by all means, to restrain thy wanton appetite, if thou be a man given to please thy palate.

Proverbs 23:4

Labour not to be rich: cease from thine own wisdom.

Do not too eagerly affect and labour to be rich; and follow not thine own carnal wisdom, which suggests unto thee wrong ways to the hasty purchase of wealth.

Proverbs 23:5

Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not? for riches certainly make themselves wings; they fly away as an eagle toward heaven.

Wilt thou be so foolish, as to fix thy heart and thine eyes, upon that, which hath no constant being? For surely riches are of a flitting, uncertain condition: they will not abide with thee, but, as with eagles’ wings, will fly away from thee.

Proverbs 23:6

Eat thou not the bread of him that hath an evil eye, neither desire thou his dainty meats:

Be not thou beholden to a niggard for his bread; neither do thou wish to take part with him, in any dainty dish:

Proverbs 23:7

For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he; Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee.

For, as in his heart he doth inwardly grudge thee every bit thou eatest, so, in his countenance and gesture, he betrays it: he bids thee, after his churlish fashion, to eat and drink; but his heart repines at thy presence, and wishes thee further off.

Proverbs 23:8

The morsel which thou hast eaten shalt thou vomit up, and lose thy sweet words.

So shalt thou be vexed with thy grudging entertainment, that thou shalt wish the churl’s meat were out of thy belly; and shalt repent of all those kind words, that thou hast cast away upon so harsh and unworthy a host.

Proverbs 23:18

For surely there is an end; and thine expectation shall not be cut off.

For surely there shall be a happy and wished end, and a blessed reward of all thy holy endeavours; and thine expectation of a joyful retribution shall not be disappointed.

Proverbs 23:23

Buy the truth, and sell it not.

Be thou glad to purchase the truth, at any rate: whatsoever it cost thee, the pennyworth is not dear; but when thou hast it, do not part with it upon any terms.

Proverbs 23:28

She increaseth the transgressors among men.

She is the means to draw men into much wickedness.

Proverbs 23:29

Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who hath babbling? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes?

Every wickedness brings mischief with it; but who is the man, that especially draws upon himself all manner of sorrows and inconveniences, both in soul and in body and estate? Who is he, that raiseth quarrels and contentions upon every trifle? Who is he, that is full of idle, obscene, unsavory words? Who is he, that, in distempered frays, gets stripes and wounds? Who is he, that afflicts his eyes with defluxions and inflammations?

Proverbs 23:30

They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine.

Who, but even he, that sits long at the wine; that hunts about from one tavern to another, where he may find the most exquisite wine and the truest drunkards.

Proverbs 23:31

Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright.

Suffer not thine eyes to be tempted, to take too much pleasure in beholding the pure and pleasing colour of the wine, when it shews itself in the glass; and when, through the strength and spirit that is in it, it sparkleth right upward, therein.

Proverbs 23:34

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.

Thy head shall be so giddy, and thy brain so turned within thee, as if thou wert laid sea-sick in the midst of the ship; or as if thou lavest upon the top of a tottering mast.

Proverbs 23:35

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.

Thou shalt be made so senseless, that thou shalt not know, either what thou dost, or what is done to thee: when thou art stricken, thou art not offended with it; and when thou art beaten, thou art not sensible of it; and so shalt thou be besotted with this excess of liquor, that thou shalt resolve, after all correction, when thou awakest out of thy drunken sleep, to return to the wonted course of thy drunkenness.