Berean Standard Bible

Proverbs 23:15-35

15My son, if your heart is wise, my own heart will indeed rejoice.16My inmost being1 will rejoice when your lips speak what is right.

17Do not let your heart envy sinners,but always continue in the fear of the LORD.18For surely there is a future,and your hope will not be cut off.

19Listen, my son, and be wise,and guide your heart on the right course.20Do not join those who drink too much wineor gorge themselves on meat.21For the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty,and drowsiness will clothe them in rags.

22Listen to your father who gave you life,and do not despise your mother when she is old.23Invest in truth and never sell it—in wisdom and instruction and understanding.24The father of a righteous man will greatly rejoice,and he who fathers a wise son will delight in him.25May your father and mother be glad,and may she who gave you birth rejoice!

26My son, give me your heart,and let your eyes delight in my ways.27For a prostitute is a deep pit,and an adulteress2 is a narrow well.28Like a robber she lies in waitand multiplies the faithless among men.

29Who has woe? Who has sorrow?Who has contentions? Who has complaints?Who has needless wounds? Who has bloodshot eyes?30Those who linger over wine,who go to taste mixed drinks.31Do not gaze at wine while it is red,when it sparkles in the cupand goes down smoothly.32In the end it bites like a snakeand stings like a viper.33Your eyes will see strange things,and your mind will utter perversities.34You will be like one sleeping on the high seasor lying on the top of a mast:35“They struck me, but I feel no pain!They beat me, but I did not know it!When can I wake upto search for another drink?”

Read all of Proverbs 23

Notes

1. Proverbs 23:16 Hebrew My kidneys ↩
2. Proverbs 23:27 Or a foreign woman or a wayward wife ↩

Notes

Commentaries on Proverbs 23