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23:1  When you sit down to dine with a ruler, carefully consider what is in front of you.
23:2  Place a knife at your throat to control your appetite.
23:3  Don’t long for the ruler’s delicacies; the food misleads.
23:4  Don’t wear yourself out trying to get rich; be smart enough to stop.
23:5  When your eyes fly to wealth it is gone; it grows wings like an eagle and flies heavenward.
23:6  Don’t eat food with stingy people; don’t long for their delicacies,
23:7  because they are like a hair in the throat. They say to you, “Eat and drink!” but they don’t mean it.
23:8  You will eat scraps and vomit them out. You will waste your pleasant words.
23:9  Don’t speak in the ears of fools, for they will scorn your insightful words.
23:10  Don’t remove an ancient boundary marker; don’t invade the fields of orphans,
23:11  for their redeemer is strong. He will bring charges against you.
23:12  Bring your mind to instruction, your ear to knowledgeable sayings.
23:13  Don’t withhold instruction from children; if you strike them with a rod, they won’t die.
23:14  Strike them with a rod, and you will save their lives from the grave.
23:15  My child, if your heart is wise, then my heart too will be happy.
23:16  My inner being will rejoice when your lips speak with integrity.
23:17  Don’t let your heart envy sinners, but fear the Lord constantly;
23:18  then you will have a future, and your hope won’t be cut off.
23:19  Listen, my child, and be wise! Keep your mind straight on the path.
23:20  Don’t hang out with those who get drunk on wine or those who eat too much meat,
23:21  because drunks and gluttons will be impoverished; their stupor will clothe them in rags.
23:22  Listen to your father, who gave you life; don’t despise your elderly mother.
23:23  Buy truth and don’t sell it; buy wisdom, instruction, and understanding.
23:24  The father of the righteous will be very happy; the one who gives life to the wise will rejoice.
23:25  Your father and your mother will rejoice; she who gave you birth will be happy.
23:26  My child, give your mind to me and let your eyes keep to my path.
23:27  A prostitute is a deep pit, and a foreign woman is a narrow well.
23:28  Indeed, she ambushes like a robber and increases the number of the faithless.
23:29  Who is suffering? Who is uneasy? Who has arguments? Who has complaints? Who has unnecessary wounds? Who has glazed eyes?—
23:30  those who linger over wine; those who go looking for mixed wine.
23:31  Don’t look at wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup, going down smoothly.
23:32  In the end, it bites like a snake and poisons like a viper.
23:33  Your eyes will see strange things, and your heart will speak distorted words.
23:34  You will be like one who lies down while out on the sea or one who lies on top of a mast.
23:35  “Though hit, I feel no pain; though beaten up, I don’t know anything about it. When I wake up, I’ll look for wine again!”