December 23 – Proverbs 23 from the Old Testament
Proverbs 23 –
23:1 When you sit down to eat with a ruler,
consider carefully what is before you,
23:2 and put a knife to your throat
if you possess a large appetite.
23:3 Do not crave that ruler’s delicacies,
for that food is deceptive.
23:4 Do not wear yourself out to become rich;
be wise enough to restrain yourself.
23:5 When you gaze upon riches, they are gone,
for they surely make wings for themselves,
and fly off into the sky like an eagle!
23:6 Do not eat the food of a stingy person,
do not crave his delicacies;
23:7 for he is like someone calculating the cost in his mind.
“Eat and drink,” he says to you,
but his heart is not with you;
23:8 you will vomit up the little bit you have eaten,
and will have wasted your pleasant words.
23:9 Do not speak in the ears of a fool,
for he will despise the wisdom of your words.
23:10 Do not move an ancient boundary stone,
or take over the fields of the fatherless,
23:11 for their Protector is strong;
he will plead their case against you.
23:12 Apply your heart to instruction
and your ears to the words of knowledge.
23:13 Do not withhold discipline from a child;
even if you strike him with the rod, he will not die.
23:14 If you strike him with the rod,
you will deliver him from death.
23:15 My child, if your heart is wise,
then my heart also will be glad;
23:16 my soul will rejoice
when your lips speak what is right.
23:17 Do not let your heart envy sinners,
but rather be zealous in fearing the Lord all the time.
23:18 For surely there is a future,
and your hope will not be cut off.
23:19 Listen, my child, and be wise,
and guide your heart on the right way.
23:20 Do not spend time among drunkards,
among those who eat too much meat,
23:21 because drunkards and gluttons become impoverished,
and drowsiness clothes them with rags.
23:22 Listen to your father who begot you,
and do not despise your mother when she is old.
23:23 Acquire truth and do not sell it –
wisdom, and discipline, and understanding.
23:24 The father of a righteous person will rejoice greatly;
whoever fathers a wise child will have joy in him.
23:25 May your father and your mother have joy;
may she who bore you rejoice.
23:26 Give me your heart, my son,
and let your eyes observe my ways;
23:27 for a prostitute is like a deep pit;
a harlot is like a narrow well.
23:28 Indeed, she lies in wait like a robber,
and increases the unfaithful among men.
23:29 Who has woe? Who has sorrow?
Who has contentions? Who has complaints?
Who has wounds without cause? Who has dullness of the eyes?
23:30 Those who linger over wine,
those who go looking for mixed wine.
23:31 Do not look on the wine when it is red,
when it sparkles in the cup,
when it goes down smoothly.
23:32 Afterward it bites like a snake,
and stings like a viper.
23:33 Your eyes will see strange things,
and your mind will speak perverse things.
23:34 And you will be like one who lies down in the midst of the sea,
and like one who lies down on the top of the rigging.
23:35 You will say, “They have struck me, but I am not harmed!
They beat me, but I did not know it!
When will I awake? I will look for another drink.”
