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