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Proverbs

Sayings of the Wise: Practical Moral Instruction (part 1)

Proverbs 22:17-23:31
17Incline your ear and hear the words of the wise, and apply your heart to my knowledge. 18For they are pleasant if you keep them in your belly; they will be established together upon your lips. 19That your trust may be in the LORD, I have made known to you today, even you. 20Have I not written to you thirty sayings with counsel and knowledge? 21To make you know the truth of the words of truth, to return words of truth to those who sent you. 22Do not plunder the poor, for he is poor, and do not crush the afflicted in the gate. 23For the LORD will contend their cause, and he will rob the soul of those who rob them. 24Do not accompany a master of anger, and with a man of rage do not come. 25Lest you learn his way and take a snare for your soul. 26Do not be among those who strike hands, among those who pledge loans. 27If you have nothing to pay, why should he take your bed from under you? 28Do not remove the ancient boundary that your fathers set. 29You have seen a man quick in his work; he will stand before kings; he will not stand before the obscure.
Chapter 23
1When you sit to eat with a ruler, consider carefully what is before you. 2And set a knife to your throat if you are a master of soul. 3Do not desire his delicacies, for he is food of lies. 4Do not toil to enrich; from your understanding cease. 5Will your eyes fly upon it and it be nothing? For it will surely make wings for itself like an eagle and fly to the heaven. 6Do not feed on the food of a bad eye, and do not desire his delicacies. 7For as he calculates in his soul, so he is: eat and drink, he says to you, yet his heart is not with you. 8The morsel you have eaten you will vomit, and you will ruin your pleasant words. 9In the ears of a fool do not speak, for he will despise the understanding of your speech. 10Do not remove the ancient boundary, and do not enter the fields of orphans. 11For their redeemer is strong; he will contend their strife with you. 12Bring your heart to discipline, and your ear to the words of knowledge. 13Do not withhold discipline from a youth, for if you strike him with the staff he will not die. 14You will strike him with the staff, and you will rescue his soul from Sheol. 15My son, if your heart is wise, my heart will rejoice, and I also. 16And my kidneys will exult when your lips speak uprightness. 17Do not let your heart be jealous of sinners, but fear the LORD all the day. 18For if there is an end, your hope will not be cut off. 19Hear, my son, and be wise, and bless the way of your heart. 20Do not be among those who imbibe wine, among those who are vile with flesh. 21For the imbiber and the vile one will be dispossessed, and drowsiness will clothe with rags. 22Hear your father who begot you, and do not despise your mother when she is old. 23Buy truth and do not sell it; wisdom, discipline, and understanding. 24The father of the righteous will rejoice; he who begets a wise one will rejoice in him. 25Your father will rejoice and your mother, and she who bore you will exult. 26Give your heart to me, my son, and let your eyes watch my ways. 27For a prostitute is a deep pit, and a foreign woman is a narrow well. 28She also lies in wait like a robber and increases the treacherous among men. 29To whom is woe? To whom is pain? To whom is strife? To whom is complaint? To whom are wounds for nothing? To whom is dullness of eyes? 30Those who linger long over wine, those who go to try mixed wine. 31Do not look at wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup and goes down smoothly.
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