#ScriptureReflection - Proverbs 23:7-14 < Thirty Sayings of the Wise : 7-14 > (9.4.21)

Saying 7

¹  When you sit to dine with a ruler,

note well what is before you,

²  and put a knife to your throat

if you are given to gluttony.

³  Do not crave his delicacies,

for that food is deceptive.

Saying 8

⁴  Do not wear yourself out to get rich;

do not trust your own cleverness.

⁵  Cast but a glance at riches, and they are gone,

for they will surely sprout wings

and fly off to the sky like an eagle.

Saying 9

⁶  Do not eat the food of a begrudging host,

do not crave his delicacies;

⁷  for he is the kind of person

who is always thinking about the cost.

“Eat and drink,” he says to you,

but his heart is not with you.

⁸  You will vomit up the little you have eaten

and will have wasted your compliments.

Saying 10

⁹  Do not speak to fools,

for they will scorn your prudent words.

Saying 11

¹⁰  Do not move an ancient boundary stone

or encroach on the fields of the fatherless,

¹¹  for their Defender is strong;

he will take up their case against you.

Saying 12

¹²  Apply your heart to instruction

and your ears to words of knowledge.

Saying 13

¹³  Do not withhold discipline from a child;

if you punish them with the rod, they will not die.

¹⁴  Punish them with the rod

and save them from death.

Saying 14

¹⁵  My son, if your heart is wise,

then my heart will be glad indeed;

¹⁶  my inmost being will rejoice

when your lips speak what is right.

Source: NIV (New International Version)