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23:1  When you sit down to dine with a ruler, Consider carefully what is [set] before you;
23:2  For you will put a knife to your throat If you are a man of great appetite.
23:3  Do not desire his delicacies, For it is deceptive food [offered to you with questionable motives].
23:4  Do not weary yourself [with the overwhelming desire] to gain wealth; Cease from your own understanding of it.
23:5  When you set your eyes on wealth, it is [suddenly] gone. For wealth certainly makes itself wings Like an eagle that flies to the heavens.
23:6  Do not eat the bread of a selfish man, Or desire his delicacies;
23:7  For as he thinks in his heart, so is he [in behavior—one who manipulates]. He says to you, “Eat and drink,” Yet his heart is not with you [but it is begrudging the cost].
23:8  The morsel which you have eaten you will vomit up, And you will waste your compliments.
23:9  Do not speak in the ears of a fool, For he will despise the [godly] wisdom of your words.
23:10  Do not move the ancient landmark [at the boundary of the property] And do not go into the fields of the fatherless [to take what is theirs],
23:11  For their Redeemer is strong and mighty; He will plead their case against you.
23:12  Apply your heart to discipline And your ears to words of knowledge.
23:13  Do not withhold discipline from the child; If you swat him with a reed-like rod [applied with godly wisdom], he will not die.
23:14  You shall swat him with the reed-like rod And rescue his life from Sheol (the nether world, the place of the dead).
23:15  My son, if your heart is wise, My heart will also be glad;
23:16  Yes, my heart will rejoice When your lips speak right things.
23:17  Do not let your heart envy sinners [who live godless lives and have no hope of salvation], But [continue to] live in the [reverent, worshipful] fear of the Lord day by day.
23:18  Surely there is a future [and a reward], And your hope and expectation will not be cut off.
23:19  Listen, my son, and be wise, And direct your heart in the way [of the Lord].
23:20  Do not associate with heavy drinkers of wine, Or with gluttonous eaters of meat,
23:21  For the heavy drinker and the glutton will come to poverty, And the drowsiness [of overindulgence] will clothe one with rags.
23:22  Listen to your father, who sired you, And do not despise your mother when she is old.
23:23  Buy truth, and do not sell it; Get wisdom and instruction and understanding.
23:24  The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice, And he who sires a wise child will have joy in him.
23:25  Let your father and your mother be glad, And let her who gave birth to you rejoice [in your wise and godly choices].
23:26  My son, give me your heart And let your eyes delight in my ways,
23:27  For a prostitute is a deep pit, And an immoral woman is a narrow well.
23:28  She lurks and lies in wait like a robber [who waits for prey], And she increases the faithless among men.
23:29  Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has strife? Who has complaining? Who has wounds without cause? Whose eyes are red and dim?
23:30  Those who linger long over wine, Those who go to taste mixed wine.
23:31  Do not look at wine when it is red, When it sparkles in the glass, When it goes down smoothly.
23:32  At the last it bites like a serpent And stings like a viper.
23:33  Your [drunken] eyes will see strange things And your mind will utter perverse things [untrue things, twisted things].
23:34  And you will be [as unsteady] as one who lies down in the middle of the sea, And [as vulnerable to disaster] as one who lies down on the top of a ship’s mast, saying,
23:35  “They struck me, but I was not hurt! They beat me, but I did not feel it! When will I wake up? I will seek more wine.”