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Book of Proverbs, Chapter 23

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Proverbs 23 NWT - New World TranslationProverbs 23 NWT - New World Translation

Chapter 23 of Proverbs—New World Translation (NWT)

  1. ¶ In case you should sit down to feed yourself with a king, you should diligently consider what is before you,1
  2. and you must put a knife to your throat if you are the owner of soul[ful desire].[a]2
  3. Do not show yourself craving his tasty dishes, as it is the food of lies.3
  4. ¶ Do not toil to gain riches.4 Cease from your own understanding.5
  5. Have you caused your eyes to glance at it, when it is nothing?6 For without fail it makes wings for itself like those of an eagle and flies away toward the heavens.7
  6. ¶ Do not feed yourself with the food of anyone of ungenerous eye,[b]8 nor show yourself craving his tasty dishes.9
  7. For as one that has calculated within his soul, so he is.10 “Eat and drink,” he says to you, but his heart itself is not with you.11
  8. Your morsel that you have eaten, you will vomit it out, and you will have wasted your pleasant words.12
  9. ¶ Into the ears of a stupid one do not speak,13 for he will despise your discreet words.14
  10. ¶ Do not move back the boundary of long ago,15 and into the field of fatherless boys do not enter.16
  11. For their Redeemer[c] is strong; he himself will plead their cause with you.17
  12. ¶ Do bring your heart to discipline and your ear to the sayings of knowledge.18
  13. ¶ Do not hold back discipline from the mere boy.19 In case you beat him with the rod, he will not die.
  14. With the rod you yourself should beat him, that you may deliver his very soul from Sheʹol[d] itself.20
  15. ¶ My son, if your heart has become wise,21 my heart will rejoice, even mine.22
  16. And my kidneys[e] will exult when your lips speak uprightness.23
  17. ¶ Let your heart not be envious of sinners,24 but be in the fear of Jehovah all day long.25
  18. For in that case there will exist a future,26 and your own hope will not be cut off.27
  19. ¶ You, O my son, hear and become wise, and lead your heart on in the way.28
  20. ¶ Do not come to be among heavy drinkers of wine,29 among those who are gluttonous eaters of flesh.30
  21. For a drunkard and a glutton will come to poverty,31 and drowsiness will clothe one with mere rags.32
  22. ¶ Listen to your father who caused your birth,33 and do not despise your mother just because she has grown old.34
  23. Buy truth itself35 and do not sell it—wisdom and discipline and understanding.36
  24. The father of a righteous one will without fail be joyful;37 the one becoming father to a wise one will also rejoice in him.38
  25. Your father and your mother will rejoice, and she that gave birth to you will be joyful.39
  26. ¶ My son, do give your heart to me, and may those eyes of yours take pleasure in my own ways.40
  27. For a prostitute is a deep pit41 and a foreign woman is a narrow well.
  28. Surely she, just like a robber, lies in wait;42 and among men she increases the treacherous ones.43
  29. ¶ Who has woe? Who has uneasiness? Who has contentions?44 Who has concern? Who has wounds for no reason? Who has dullness of eyes?
  30. Those staying a long time with the wine,45 those coming in to search out mixed wine.46
  31. Do not look at wine when it exhibits a red color, when it gives off its sparkle in the cup, [when] it goes with a slickness.
  32. At its end it bites just like a serpent,47 and it secretes poison just like a viper.48
  33. Your own eyes will see strange things,[f] and your own heart will speak perverse things.49
  34. And you will certainly become like one lying down in the heart of the sea, even like one lying down at the top of a mast.50
  35. “They have struck me, but I did not become sick; they have smitten me, but I did not know it. When shall I wake up?51 I shall seek it yet some more.”52

FOOTNOTES

  1. ^ Lit., “soul.” Heb., neʹphesh; Lat., aʹni·mam.
  2. ^ Lit., “evil as to eye.” Heb., raʽ ʽaʹyin.
  3. ^ “Their Redeemer (Repurchaser).” By extension of thought, “their Avenger (Vindicator).” Heb., gho·ʼalamʹ. See Job 19:25 and Ps 19:14 ftns.
  4. ^ “From Sheol.” Heb., mish·sheʼohlʹ; LXX, “death”; Syr., shiul; Lat., in·ferʹno. See App 4B.
  5. ^ Or, “my deepest emotions.” Heb., khil·yoh·thaiʹ.
  6. ^ Or, “strange women.”

REFERENCES

  1. ^ Ge 43:32
  2. ^ Ga 5:23
  3. ^ Ps 141:4
  4. ^ Pr 28:20; Jn 6:27; 1Ti 6:10
  5. ^ Pr 3:5; 26:12; Is 5:21
  6. ^ Pp 3:8; 1Jo 2:17
  7. ^ Pr 27:24; Ec 12:8
  8. ^ De 15:9
  9. ^ Ps 141:4
  10. ^ Lu 6:45
  11. ^ 2Sa 13:26; Ps 12:2; 28:3
  12. ^ 2Sa 13:28
  13. ^ Pr 9:7; 26:4; Is 36:21; Ac 13:46
  14. ^ Mt 7:6
  15. ^ De 19:14
  16. ^ Jb 6:27; Ps 94:6; Je 7:6
  17. ^ Ex 22:23; De 27:19; Ps 10:14; 68:5
  18. ^ Pr 2:2; 5:1; 22:17
  19. ^ Pr 13:24; 19:18; 29:15, 17; Eph 6:4
  20. ^ Pr 19:18
  21. ^ Pr 4:1
  22. ^ Pr 10:1; 27:11; 3Jo 4
  23. ^ Col 4:4
  24. ^ Ps 37:1; Pr 3:31; 24:1
  25. ^ Ps 111:10; Pr 15:16; Ac 9:31; 2Co 7:1; 1Pe 1:17
  26. ^ Ps 37:37; Je 29:11; Ro 6:22
  27. ^ Pp 1:20
  28. ^ Pr 4:21
  29. ^ Pr 20:1; Is 5:11; Ro 13:13; 1Co 10:31; 1Pe 4:3
  30. ^ Pr 28:7; Ti 1:12
  31. ^ De 21:20; Pr 21:17; Ec 10:17; Ga 5:21
  32. ^ Pr 19:15; 24:34
  33. ^ Ex 20:12; Le 19:3; Pr 1:8; Eph 6:1
  34. ^ Ex 21:17; De 27:16; Pr 30:11; Mt 15:5
  35. ^ Jn 8:32; Pp 3:7
  36. ^ Pr 4:5; 16:16; Re 3:18
  37. ^ 1Ki 1:48; Pr 10:1
  38. ^ Pr 15:20
  39. ^ Lu 11:27
  40. ^ Ps 107:43
  41. ^ Pr 22:14
  42. ^ Pr 7:12; Ec 7:26
  43. ^ Nu 25:1; 1Co 10:8
  44. ^ Pr 20:1; Eph 5:18
  45. ^ Is 5:11
  46. ^ Is 65:11
  47. ^ Nu 21:9; Je 8:17
  48. ^ Ps 140:3; Ac 28:6
  49. ^ Ho 4:11; 7:5
  50. ^ 1Ki 16:9
  51. ^ Ge 19:33
  52. ^ Pr 26:11; 1Co 15:32

Read Proverbs Chapter 23 in other Bible versions:

Comments

  1. Kiamia DoelKiamia Doel
    Jan 9, 2025 23:00 GMT

    The NWT adds words to the text that are not in the greek Manuscripts to fit it's own doctrinal position for example

    Compare the wording of the NWT and the NKJV at Colossians 1:15-17

    NKJV says

    15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. 17 And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.

    NWT says

    15 He is the image of the invisible God,the firstborn OF all creation;16 because by means of him all OTHER things were created in the heavens and on the earth, the things visible and the things invisible,whether they are thrones or lordships or governments or authorities. All OTHER things have been created through him and for him. 17 Also, he is before all OTHER things,and by means of him all OTHER things were made to exist,

    The word “other” is not in the Greek but they add it Why? So they can decieve their followers into thinking that Christ was created by the Father and that he then created other things, that is not what the Greek says.

    1. SmeSme
      Feb 27, 2025 11:17 GMT

      Truth is from God and those that follow him. As for lies? John8:44

      Kiamia, I noticed you used a modern version of kjv to make your point about the nwt.

      Why didn’t you use the original kjv of col1:15?

      Is it because it disproves your point? It proves the opposite of what you wrote?

      Here is kjv col1:15 ¶” Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn OF every creature:“

      Now I appeal to your Christian nature to correct your mistake as God is watching each of us, and let us bless the God of Jesus his father.

      Kjv 1Pe 1:3  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ….

  2. YanekYanek
    Dec 24, 2024 22:18 GMT

    Joshua, Jehovah’s Witnesses have never denied the deity of the Messiah in his prehuman existence. While on Earth he was fully 100% human. I do not mean he was a mere human, he was not affected by Adam’s unfaithful behavior, he was sinless.

  3. David yakubuDavid yakubu
    Oct 29, 2022 08:05 GMT

    When i do read some comments and seeing that its the same people that are supposed to be called believers but are talking ill of other denominations, it hurts. Let us all remember that We should judge not

    1. jonas smithjonas smith
      Apr 23, 2023 02:57 GMT

      The bible tells us to test the spirits. Satan disguises himself as angel of light. So yes some denomination are not teaching the truth. You are responsible for judging which ones are not. You have to judge the truth at all times. this is what the bible teaches

  4. THTH
    Apr 7, 2021 00:20 GMT

    The NWT is a very good translation. Dr. Jason David BeDuhn PhD attests to that in his book Truth in Translation. drive.google.com/...5p16melHzg8/view

    1. James LernerJames Lerner
      Jul 20, 2024 09:48 GMT

      The NWT is Satanic filth to its very core.

      The JW Cult is Satanic to its very core.

      Praise Yahweh I will never be a victim of JW brainwashing. If I burn in Hell for eternity or I am ultimately annihilated so be it

      May Yahweh's curse rest on the Watchtower Society and its Satanic leadership

    2. jim mcleodjim mcleod
      Aug 22, 2021 06:16 GMT

      NWT is a false translation that takes away from the deity of Jesus !

  5. SlightlyChaoticSlightlyChaotic
    Jan 30, 2021 16:33 GMT

    Thank you for taking the time to provide this service. I like seeing the NASB on your web page in the same format as I read on paper. On other sites, the text area is smaller, and so I have to keep scrolling down to read and sometimes I lose the context. So I really appreciate the format.

    As far as the NWT, you are certainly free to do whatever you think best with your own web pages. I'd suggest that you make a note anytime you have a translation that is associated with only one denomination or church, for example:
    New World Translation (Jehovah's Witness version).

    In Jesus' parable of the wheat and the tares. the main idea seems to be that you can't easily distinguish between God's people and not-God's people on this earth, so our Lord's response is to wait until they are shown to be the kind of people they are inside. But the NWT seems like false teaching to me. So I think the warning passages from Jesus' apostles are more applicable, as in 2 Peter 3:15-16, when he talks about Paul's writings:
    "There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures."
    And we also have the positive exhortations, as in 2 Timothy 2:15:
    "Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth."

    1. BroderickBroderick
      Jan 31, 2021 00:57 GMT

      Your suggestion regarding the denominational flagging is duly noted. But I can’t help but wonder, wouldn’t a Catholic also want “Protestant versions” marked as well?

      As for the parable, I’m pretty sure the slaves were convinced in their own minds that they could tell the tares from the wheat. After all, aren’t they the ones who identified the problem in the first place? But the master obviously thought otherwise.

      Furthermore, even at the time when Jesus himself was walking the earth, not everybody who claimed fellowship actually followed him causing John to inquire at Mark 9:39, “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in Your name, and we tried to prevent him because he was not following us.” But Jesus said, “Do not hinder him . . . for he who is not against us is for us.”

  6. Joshua HarderJoshua Harder
    Dec 11, 2020 17:48 GMT

    Hello, question.. why have you included the NWT with other legitimate bible translations? Or why have you not atleast included a warning to readers? Don't you fear that someone could be influenced by the Watchtower's intentional heresies? Thank you.

    1. KevinKevin
      Jul 11, 2021 17:45 GMT

      en.m.wikipedia.org/..._Holy_Scriptures

      See the section critical review

    2. ChrisChris
      Jan 8, 2021 07:15 GMT

      Please site these intentional heresies. I am well versed in the watch tower outline and agree they are in many ways incorrect but i also bet i can point many out from EVERY established or main denomination. There is much to learn from them all as one who drinks milk?

      Judge not lest ye be judged, that is not to pass judgement on you either brother.

      I debate with scripture. I don't hold it to be true that Michael is Y'Shua HaMeshiach but I also firmly hold it to be true that our G-d and Heavenly Father are not the word encarnate and only begotten son.

      I love not seeing "lord" which i relate to baal. I feel the catholic church is a satanic establishment and I am aware a freemason started the hovies but there are evil in high places and our fight is also with principalities.

      What i'm saying is that in my darkest hours, those two were some of if not the only ones who would bring a Bible and eucharist and pray with me.

      We all fall short of the glory of G-d.

      Don't forget the NWT was recognized as the most accurate translation on Jeopardy.

      Lastly, this is different I noted than the NWT i have read and am very familiar with. Pull up the watchtower page and compare. I truly look forward to getting this one!

  7. julietjuliet
    Aug 17, 2022 09:36 GMT

    the sky is blue

  8. mercymercy
    Aug 12, 2022 21:23 GMT

    i am Mercy, the sky is blue what else do you need

    1. mercymercy
      Aug 12, 2022 21:25 GMT

      i am so sorry, it was a big mistake

  9. God is able to do all thingsGod is able to do all things
    May 17, 2021 17:59 GMT

    Jesus how much love calling yo name

  10. EmpiralEmpiral
    Jul 4, 2025 19:06 GMT

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