True Wealth Is Found in the Fear of the LORD

When you sit down to dine with a ruler,Consider well who is before you. Thrust a knife into your gulletIf you have a large appetite. Do not crave the dainties,For they are counterfeit food. Do not toil to gain wealth;Have the sense to desist. You see it, then it is gone;It grows wings and flies away,Like an eagle, heavenward. Do not eat of a miser’s food;Do not crave for his dainties; He is like one keeping accounts;“Eat and drink,” he says to you,But he does not really mean it. The morsel you eat you will vomit;You will waste your courteous words. Do not speak to a dullard—Who will disdain your sensible words. Do not remove ancient boundary stones;Do not encroach upon the field of orphans, For they have a mighty Redeemer,Who will surely take up their cause with you. Apply your mind to disciplineAnd your ears to wise sayings. Do not withhold discipline from children;If you beat them with a rod they will not die. Beat them with a rodAnd you will save them from the grave. My son, if your mind gets wisdom,My mind, too, will be gladdened. I shall rejoice with all my heart When your lips speak right things. Do not envy sinners in your heart,But only those who fear GOD, at all times, For then you will have a future,And your hope will never fail. Listen, my son, and get wisdom;Lead your mind in a [proper] path. Do not be of those who guzzle wine,Or glut themselves on meat, For guzzlers and gluttons will be impoverished,And drowsing will clothe you in tatters. Listen to your father who begot you;Do not disdain your mother when she is old. Buy truth and never sell it,And wisdom, discipline, and understanding. The father of a righteous person will exult;He who begets a wise child will rejoice in them. Your father and mother will rejoice;She who bore you will exult. Give your mind to me, my son;Let your eyes watch my ways. A prostitute is a deep pit;A forbidden woman is a narrow well. She too lies in wait as if for prey,And destroys the unfaithful among men. Who cries, “Woe!” who, “Alas!”;Who has quarrels, who complaints;Who has wounds without cause;Who has bleary eyes? Those whom wine keeps till the small hours,Those who gather to drain the cups. Do not ogle that red wineAs it lends its color to the cup,As it flows on smoothly; In the end, it bites like a snake;It spits like a basilisk. Your eyes will see strange sights;Your heart will speak distorted things. You will be like one lying in bed on high seas,Like one lying on top of the rigging. “They struck me, but I felt no hurt;They beat me, but I was unaware;As often as I wake,I go after it again.”

The central thread of Proverbs 23:1–20 is discernment: where we set our appetite, our eyes, and our trust. Verse 17b is the hinge of the passage — 'fear GOD at all times.' Faith (信心) here is not abstract belief, but a steady orientation of the heart toward the Lord rather than toward rulers, dainties, wine, or illicit pleasure. Trust (信靠) is exercised when we refuse to crave counterfeit food and instead let wisdom's discipline shape us.