---
title: "Proverbs 23:1-35 KJV - \"When thou sittest to eat with a ruler,...\" | Real Bible Believers"
description: "\"When thou sittest to eat with a ruler, consider diligently what is before thee: And put a knife to thy throat, if thou be a man gi\" — Read Proverbs 23:1-35 in the King James Version (KJV) with commentary, cross references, and Greek/Hebrew lexicon."
image: "/_app/immutable/assets/missing.C7wGMEZ6.jpg"
url: "https://realbiblebelievers.com/kjv/proverbs/23/1-35"
---

[ Read](/kjv/proverbs/23)[ Commentary](/study/proverbs/23)[ Interlinear](/interlinear/proverbs/23) Audio

## Proverbs 23:1-35 in Context (Verses 1–35 KJV)
 
 [1 ](/kjv/proverbs/23/1) When thou sittest to eat with a ruler, consider diligently what *is* before thee:
 
 [2 ](/kjv/proverbs/23/2) And put a knife to thy throat, if thou *be* a man given to appetite.
 
 [3 ](/kjv/proverbs/23/3) Be not desirous of his dainties: for they *are* deceitful meat.
 
 [4 ](/kjv/proverbs/23/4) Labour not to be rich: cease from thine own wisdom.
 
 [5 ](/kjv/proverbs/23/5) Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not? for *riches* certainly make themselves wings; they fly away as an eagle toward heaven.*
 
 [6 ](/kjv/proverbs/23/6) Eat thou not the bread of *him that hath* an evil eye, neither desire thou his dainty meats:
 
 [7 ](/kjv/proverbs/23/7) For as he thinketh in his heart, so *is* he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart *is* not with thee.
 
 [8 ](/kjv/proverbs/23/8) The morsel *which* thou hast eaten shalt thou vomit up, and lose thy sweet words.
 
 [9 ](/kjv/proverbs/23/9) Speak not in the ears of a fool: for he will despise the wisdom of thy words.
 
 [10 ](/kjv/proverbs/23/10) Remove not the old landmark; and enter not into the fields of the fatherless:*
 
 [11 ](/kjv/proverbs/23/11) For their redeemer *is* mighty; he shall plead their cause with thee.
 
 [12 ](/kjv/proverbs/23/12) Apply thine heart unto instruction, and thine ears to the words of knowledge.
 
 [13 ](/kjv/proverbs/23/13) Withhold not correction from the child: for *if* thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die.
 
 [14 ](/kjv/proverbs/23/14) Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell.
 
 [15 ](/kjv/proverbs/23/15) My son, if thine heart be wise, my heart shall rejoice, even mine.*
 
 [16 ](/kjv/proverbs/23/16) Yea, my reins shall rejoice, when thy lips speak right things.
 
 [17 ](/kjv/proverbs/23/17) Let not thine heart envy sinners: but *be thou* in the fear of the LORD all the day long.
 
 [18 ](/kjv/proverbs/23/18) For surely there is an end; and thine expectation shall not be cut off.*
 
 [19 ](/kjv/proverbs/23/19) Hear thou, my son, and be wise, and guide thine heart in the way.
 
 [20 ](/kjv/proverbs/23/20) Be not among winebibbers; among riotous eaters of flesh:*
 
 [21 ](/kjv/proverbs/23/21) For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty: and drowsiness shall clothe *a man* with rags.
 
 [22 ](/kjv/proverbs/23/22) Hearken unto thy father that begat thee, and despise not thy mother when she is old.
 
 [23 ](/kjv/proverbs/23/23) Buy the truth, and sell *it* not; *also* wisdom, and instruction, and understanding.
 
 [24 ](/kjv/proverbs/23/24) The father of the righteous shall greatly rejoice: and he that begetteth a wise *child* shall have joy of him.
 
 [25 ](/kjv/proverbs/23/25) Thy father and thy mother shall be glad, and she that bare thee shall rejoice.
 
 [26 ](/kjv/proverbs/23/26) My son, give me thine heart, and let thine eyes observe my ways.
 
 [27 ](/kjv/proverbs/23/27) For a whore *is* a deep ditch; and a strange woman *is* a narrow pit.
 
 [28 ](/kjv/proverbs/23/28) She also lieth in wait as *for* a prey, and increaseth the transgressors among men.*
 
 [29 ](/kjv/proverbs/23/29) Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who hath babbling? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes?
 
 [30 ](/kjv/proverbs/23/30) They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine.
 
 [31 ](/kjv/proverbs/23/31) Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, *when* it moveth itself aright.
 
 [32 ](/kjv/proverbs/23/32) At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder.*
 
 [33 ](/kjv/proverbs/23/33) Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thine heart shall utter perverse things.
 
 [34 ](/kjv/proverbs/23/34) 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.*
 
 [35 ](/kjv/proverbs/23/35) 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.*
 
[Proverbs 22](/kjv/proverbs/22) [Proverbs 24](/kjv/proverbs/24)

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