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23:1  When you sit down to eat with a ruler, observe carefully what is before you,
23:2  and put a knife to your throat if you have a big appetite.
23:3  Do not desire the ruler’s delicacies, for they are deceptive food.
23:4  Do not wear yourself out to get rich; be wise enough to desist.
23:5  When your eyes light upon it, it is gone; for suddenly it takes wings to itself, flying like an eagle toward heaven.
23:6  Do not eat the bread of the stingy; do not desire their delicacies;
23:7  for like a hair in the throat, so are they. “Eat and drink!” they say to you; but they do not mean it.
23:8  You will vomit up the little you have eaten, and you will waste your pleasant words.
23:9  Do not speak in the hearing of a fool, who will only despise the wisdom of your words.
23:10  Do not remove an ancient landmark or encroach on the fields of orphans,
23:11  for their redeemer is strong; he will plead their cause against you.
23:12  Apply your mind to instruction and your ear to words of knowledge.
23:13  Do not withhold discipline from your children; if you beat them with a rod, they will not die.
23:14  If you beat them with the rod, you will save their lives from Sheol.
23:15  My child, if your heart is wise, my heart too will be glad.
23:16  My soul will rejoice when your lips speak what is right.
23:17  Do not let your heart envy sinners, but always continue in the fear of the Lord.
23:18  Surely there is a future, and your hope will not be cut off.
23:19  Hear, my child, and be wise, and direct your mind in the way.
23:20  Do not be among winebibbers, or among gluttonous eaters of meat;
23:21  for the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty, and drowsiness will clothe them with rags.
23:22  Listen to your father who begot you, and do not despise your mother when she is old.
23:23  Buy truth, and do not sell it; buy wisdom, instruction, and understanding.
23:24  The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice; he who begets a wise son will be glad in him.
23:25  Let your father and mother be glad; let her who bore you rejoice.
23:26  My child, give me your heart, and let your eyes observe my ways.
23:27  For a prostitute is a deep pit; an adulteress is a narrow well.
23:28  She lies in wait like a robber and increases the number of the faithless.
23:29  Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has strife? Who has complaining? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes?
23:30  Those who linger late over wine, those who keep trying mixed wines.
23:31  Do not look at wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup and goes down smoothly.
23:32  At the last it bites like a serpent, and stings like an adder.
23:33  Your eyes will see strange things, and your mind utter perverse things.
23:34  You will be like one who lies down in the midst of the sea, like one who lies on the top of a mast.
23:35  “They struck me,” you will say, “but I was not hurt; they beat me, but I did not feel it. When shall I awake? I will seek another drink.”