Proverbs Chapter 23
Showing all 35 verses for Proverbs Chapter 23.
The People's Bible is written by people, for the people. Each verse below shows:
"When thou sitiest to eat with a ruler, consider diligently what is before thee: "
"When you sit down to eat with someone powerful or important, pay close attention to what's really going on in front of you - don't just dig in without thinking."
I want you to be free even at another person's table - not performing, not grasping, just present and clear-headed. Power in a room can pull you off balance; steady yourself before you let it.
"And put a knife to thy throat, if thou be a man given to appetite. "
"If you know you tend to overdo it with food, treat it as seriously as putting a blade to your own throat - rein yourself in hard."
I'm not asking you to hate your body - I'm asking you to notice where a craving runs the show instead of you. Self-control isn't punishment, it's how you stay free rather than owned.
"Be not desirous of his dainties: for they are deceitful meat. "
"Don't crave the fancy food a powerful host is offering - it's not what it looks like."
I want you to notice when a gift has a hook in it. Not everyone who feeds you does it out of love - some are buying your loyalty or your silence. Stay awake to the difference.
"Labour not to be rich: cease from thine own wisdom. "
"Don't wear yourself out trying to get rich - have the sense to stop relying on your own cleverness to chase it."
I want your energy going into something that lasts, not a race you can't win by outsmarting the odds. Rest your ambition; there's a wiser way to live than a life spent grasping.
"Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not? for riches certainly make themselves wings; they fly away as an eagle toward heaven. "
"Why fix your eyes on something so unstable? Riches can sprout wings in an instant and fly off like an eagle into the sky."
Don't build your identity on something that can disappear overnight - what's truly yours is what can't be taken by a bad market or a stroke of luck. Set your eyes on something with real staying power.
"Eat thou not the bread of him that hath an evil eye, neither desire thou his dainty meats: "
"Don't eat food offered by a stingy, ill-intentioned person, and don't crave his fancy delicacies."
Notice who actually wants good for you versus who's just performing kindness - real hospitality comes from an open heart, and you can usually feel the difference if you pay attention.
"For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee. "
"Because deep down he's calculating the whole time - his real self lives in his private thoughts. "Eat, drink," he tells you, but his heart isn't actually with you at all."
Judge people less by their words and more by what their actions and patterns reveal - I always looked past the surface to what was really going on inside someone. Ask yourself honestly whether your own words and heart line up too.
"The morsel which thou hast eaten shalt thou vomit up, and lose thy sweet words. "
"You'll end up vomiting back the little you ate, and all the kind, pleasant things you said to him will have been wasted."
Don't pour your warmth into a relationship that was never going to receive it honestly - spend that energy on people who'll actually meet you with an open heart.
"Speak not in the ears of a fool: for he will despise the wisdom of thy words. "
"Don't waste your wise words on a closed-minded fool - he'll only sneer at how sensible you're being."
I sent my followers out knowing not every door would open - if a place won't receive you, you shake the dust off and move on, you don't force it. Save your best wisdom for the people ready to use it.
"Remove not the old landmark; and enter not into the fields of the fatherless: "
"Don't move an old boundary stone, and don't take over land that belongs to orphaned children."
Just because someone can't fight back doesn't mean you're free to take advantage - I always stood with the ones who had no one else standing for them. Protect what belongs to the powerless rather than helping yourself to it.
"For their redeemer is mighty; he shall plead their cause with thee. "
"Because their defender is powerful - he will take up their case against you himself."
I see every quiet injustice done to someone who has no one to speak for them, and I take their side. Don't assume that because a person can't defend themselves, no one ever will.
"Apply thine heart unto instruction, and thine ears to the words of knowledge. "
"Commit yourself fully to learning - open your ears to knowledge."
Growth takes willingness, not just information landing on you - lean in, ask questions, stay teachable your whole life. The moment you think you've learned enough is the moment you stop growing.
"Withhold not correction from the child: for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die. "
"Don't hold back from disciplining a child - even firm physical correction won't kill him."
Don't let fear of a hard conversation or firm boundary stop you from actually protecting someone you love. Real love sometimes looks like the harder choice, not the easier one.
"Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell. "
"Firm discipline like that can save him from a path that leads to real destruction."
The boundaries you set out of love for someone now can be the very thing that saves them from a much harder road later. Don't confuse kindness with never saying no.
"My son, if thine heart be wise, my heart shall rejoice, even mine. "
"My son, if your heart grows wise, my own heart will be glad - truly glad."
When you choose what's good and true, it doesn't just help you - it brings real joy to everyone who loves you. I rejoice over one person turning towards wisdom the way a shepherd rejoices finding one lost sheep.
"Yea, my reins shall rejoice, when thy lips speak right things. "
"My inmost being will rejoice when your words are honest and right."
What you say reveals who you're becoming, and it matters to the people who love you far more than you realise. Let your words be honest ones; they carry more weight than you know.
"Let not thine heart envy sinners: but be thou in the fear of the LORD all the day long. "
"Don't let your heart envy people who do wrong - instead, stay in awe and respect of God all day, every day."
Don't measure your life against someone who's winning by cheating - their story isn't finished, and neither is yours. Stay anchored in what's true and good.
"For surely there is an end; and thine expectation shall not be cut off. "
"Because there really is a future ahead, and your hope won't be cut off."
Hold on. What looks unrewarded today isn't the end of the story - keep going, because your hope has a real future attached to it.
"Hear thou, my son, and be wise, and guide thine heart in the way. "
"Listen, my son, and become wise - keep your heart pointed straight down the right path."
Choose your direction on purpose - don't just let your life drift wherever old habits or cravings pull it. I want you awake and steering, not asleep at the wheel.
"Be not among winebibbers; among riotous eaters of flesh: "
"Don't run with heavy drinkers or people who gorge themselves on meat."
The people you surround yourself with shape your habits more than you realise - choose companions who bring out your best, not your worst appetites.
"For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty: and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags. "
"Because drunks and gluttons end up poor, and constant drowsiness dresses a person in rags."
Notice the quiet way small excesses pile up into real loss - not as punishment, but as simple cause and effect. Wake up to your own life before drowsiness costs you more than you meant to spend.
"Hearken unto thy father that begat thee, and despise not thy mother when she is old. "
"Listen to your father who gave you life, and don't look down on your mother once she's old."
Honour your parents not just when they're strong and impressive, but especially when age has made them frailer - that's when your care means the most.
"Buy the truth, and sell it not; also wisdom, and instruction, and understanding. "
"Buy the truth, and never sell it back - get wisdom, discipline, and understanding too."
Whatever it costs you to learn what's true, don't let it go later for an easier life or an easier lie. Truth is worth protecting long after the moment you first paid for it.
"The father of the righteous shall greatly rejoice: and he that begetheth a wise child shall have joy of him. "
"The father of a truly good person will be filled with joy; whoever raises a wise child gets real delight from him."
The good choices you make don't stay contained to you - they become someone else's joy too. Let that be part of your motivation, but not the whole of it.
"Thy father and thy mother shall be glad, and she that bare thee shall rejoice. "
"So make your father and mother glad - let the woman who gave birth to you rejoice."
Don't just accept that good living pleases your parents in theory - actually live in a way that lets them see it, today, while they're here to see it.
"My son, give me thine heart, and let thine eyes observe my ways. "
"My son, give me your heart - let your eyes stay fixed on how I live."
I don't want your rule-following, I want your heart - real change starts there. Watch how people who love you actually live, and let that guide you more than any single warning could.
"For a whore is a deep ditch; and a strange woman is a narrow pit. "
"Because a prostitute is like a deep pit, and another man's wife is like a narrow well."
Some doorways look exciting from the outside and turn out to be far harder to leave than they were to enter - think ahead, not just about the moment, but about where the path actually leads.
"She also lieth in wait as for a prey, and increaseth the transgressors among men. "
"She lies in ambush like a robber waiting for prey, and she adds to the number of unfaithful men in the world."
The choices you make about faithfulness don't just affect you - they ripple outward into every relationship connected to yours. Guard your commitments.
"Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who hath babbling? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes? "
"Who's always in trouble? Who's always miserable? Who's always arguing, always complaining, covered in random bruises, with bloodshot eyes?"
I notice the exhaustion behind someone's constant trouble and unexplained wounds - often it's a sign something deeper is running their life. If this fits you, that's not a verdict on your worth, it's an invitation to look honestly at the cause.
"They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine. "
"It's the people who linger too long over wine, who go looking for the strongest mixed drinks."
Notice when "just one more" becomes a pattern you keep returning to - that repetition is where the real danger lives, more than any single choice.
"Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright. "
"Don't stare at wine when it looks so inviting - glowing red in the cup, going down smoothly."
Be honest about what's tempting you before it takes hold, not after - the moment to walk away is while it still just looks appealing, not once you're already caught.
"At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder. "
"In the end it bites like a snake and stings like a viper."
What looks harmless in the moment can still carry a hidden sting - don't judge something only by how good it feels going down; watch for what it costs you afterwards.
"Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thine heart shall utter perverse things. "
"Your eyes will start seeing strange things, and your mind will pour out confused, twisted thoughts."
Guard your mind as much as your body - the things that cloud your judgement don't just hurt you physically, they can twist how you see everyone around you.
"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. "
"You'll feel like you're lying down in the middle of a stormy sea, or clinging to the top of a ship's mast."
When you feel like the ground beneath you keeps shifting, that's worth paying attention to, not numbing further - steadiness comes from stepping back onto solid ground, not from staying up the mast.
"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. "
""They hit me," you'll say, "but I didn't feel it; they beat me, and I didn't notice it - when will I wake up? I need to go find another drink.""
I see the person trapped inside that numbness, still worth reaching, still worth loving - addiction isn't a moral failure that puts you beyond help, it's a real chain, and I came to set people free from exactly this kind of chain. If this is you, or someone you love, don't wait to "wake up" alone; reach for a hand now.