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23:1  When thou sittest to eat with a ruler, consider diligently him that 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; seeing they are deceitful meat.
23:4  Weary not thyself to be rich; cease from thine own wisdom.
23:5  Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not? for riches certainly make themselves wings, like an eagle that flieth toward heaven.
23:6  Eat thou not the bread of him that hath an evil eye, neither desire thou his dainties:
23:7  For as he reckoneth within himself, 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 in the hearing of a fool; for he will despise the wisdom of thy words.
23:10  Remove not the ancient landmark; and enter not into the fields of the fatherless:
23:11  For their redeemer is strong; 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 beat him with the rod, he shall not die.
23:14  Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from Sheol.
23:15  My son, if thine heart be wise, my heart shall be glad, 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 the fear of the LORD all the day long:
23:18  For surely there is a reward; and thy hope 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 gluttonous 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 begat thee, and despise not thy mother when she is old.
23:23  Buy the truth, and sell it not; yea, 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 of him.
23:25  Let thy father and thy mother be glad, and let her that bare thee rejoice.
23:26  My son, give me thine heart, and let thine eyes delight in my ways.
23:27  For a whore is a deep ditch; and a strange woman is a narrow pit.
23:28  Yea, she lieth in wait as a robber, and increaseth the treacherous among men.
23:29  Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who hath complaining? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes?
23:30  They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek out mixed wine.
23:31  Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth its colour in the cup, when it goeth down smoothly.
23:32  At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder.
23:33  Thine eyes shall behold strange things, and thine heart shall utter froward 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 stricken me, shalt thou say, and I was not hurt; they have beaten me, and I felt it not: when shall I awake? I will seek it yet again.