from Crossway1When you sit down to eat with a ruler, observe carefully what[1] is before you,2and put a knife to your throat if you are given to appetite.3Do not desire his delicacies, for they are deceptive food. (Pr 23:6)4Do not toil to acquire wealth; be discerning enough to desist. (Pr 3:5; Pr 3:7; Pr 15:27; Pr 26:12; Pr 28:20; Isa 5:21; Mt 6:19; Ro 12:16; 1Ti 6:9; Heb 13:5)5When your eyes light on it, it is gone, for suddenly it sprouts wings, flying like an eagle toward heaven. (Pr 27:24)6Do not eat the bread of a man who is stingy;[2] do not desire his delicacies, (De 15:9; Ps 141:4; Pr 23:3; Pr 28:22)7for he is like one who is inwardly calculating.[3] “Eat and drink!” he says to you, but his heart is not with you. (Ps 12:2)8You will vomit up the morsels that you have eaten, and waste your pleasant words.9Do not speak in the hearing of a fool, for he will despise the good sense of your words.10Do not move an ancient landmark or enter the fields of the fatherless, (Pr 22:28)11for their Redeemer is strong; he will plead their cause against you. (Ex 6:6; Job 19:25; Pr 22:23)12Apply your heart to instruction and your ear to words of knowledge.13Do not withhold discipline from a child; if you strike him with a rod, he will not die. (Pr 13:24; Pr 19:18)14If you strike him with the rod, you will save his soul from Sheol. (1Co 5:5)15My son, if your heart is wise, my heart too will be glad. (Pr 23:24; Pr 29:3)16My inmost being[4] will exult when your lips speak what is right. (Ps 7:9; Ps 73:21; Pr 8:6)17Let not your heart envy sinners, but continue in the fear of the Lord all the day. (Ps 37:1; Pr 28:14)18Surely there is a future, and your hope will not be cut off. (Ps 9:18; Pr 24:14; Pr 24:20)19Hear, my son, and be wise, and direct your heart in the way. (Pr 6:6; Pr 9:6)20Be not among drunkards[5] or among gluttonous eaters of meat, (Pr 23:29; Pr 28:7; Isa 5:11; Isa 5:22; Mt 24:49; Lu 21:34; Ro 13:13; Eph 5:18)21for the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty, and slumber will clothe them with rags. (Pr 6:10)22Listen to your father who gave you life, and do not despise your mother when she is old. (Pr 1:8; Pr 30:17)23Buy truth, and do not sell it; buy wisdom, instruction, and understanding. (Pr 4:5; Pr 4:7; Pr 18:15; Mt 13:44)24The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice; he who fathers a wise son will be glad in him. (Pr 23:15; Pr 29:3)25Let your father and mother be glad; let her who bore you rejoice. (Pr 17:25; Pr 23:24)26My son, give me your heart, and let your eyes observe[6] my ways.27For a prostitute is a deep pit; an adulteress[7] is a narrow well. (Ps 55:23; Pr 2:16; Pr 22:14)28She lies in wait like a robber and increases the traitors among mankind. (Pr 7:12; Ec 7:26)29Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has strife? Who has complaining? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes? (Ge 49:12; Pr 23:20; Pr 23:35)30Those who tarry long over wine; those who go to try mixed wine. (Ps 75:8; Pr 9:2; Pr 9:5; Isa 5:11; Isa 5:22; Isa 65:11)31Do not look at wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup and goes down smoothly.32In the end it bites like a serpent and stings like an adder. (Job 20:16)33Your eyes will see strange things, and your heart utter perverse things. (Pr 2:12)34You will be like one who lies down in the midst of the sea, like one who lies on the top of a mast.[8]35“They struck me,” you will say,[9] “but I was not hurt; they beat me, but I did not feel it. When shall I awake? I must have another drink.” (Pr 23:29; Isa 56:12; Jer 5:3)