---
title: Joseph Smith Translation (1867 edition)
description: Proverbs from the Joseph Smith Translation (JST), 1867 edition.
authors:
  - Smith, Joseph, Jr.
collections:
  - joseph-smith
tags:
  - translation
published: "1867"
publisher: RLDS Publication Board
publisher_place: Plano, Illinois
publisher_note: "The title page reads: Published by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints; Joseph Smith, I. L. Rogers, E. Robinson, Publishing Committee; 1867."
edition: First edition (Plano, 1867)
language: en
type: book
chapter: 23
verse_count: 35
reference: "Joseph Smith Jr., *Joseph Smith Translation*, first edition (Plano, IL: RLDS Publication Board, 1867), Proverbs, chap. 23, https://archive.org/details/holyscripturestr00smituoft."
source:
  url: https://archive.org/details/holyscripturestr00smituoft
  identifier: holyscripturestr00smituoft
  scan: University of Toronto / Trinity College Library copy, Internet Archive
  transcription: "OCR text of the 1867 scans (Toronto copy and a second copy, holyscriptures00smit), reconciled word by word; Romans was also checked against the page images. Method, per-chapter validation log and known limits: docs/jst-1867-import.md."
rights:
  status: public-domain
  basis: 1867 US publication
  source: https://archive.org/details/holyscripturestr00smituoft
  publication_year: 1867
---

# Proverbs 23

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