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23:1  When thou sittest to dine with a moshel (ruler), consider diligently what is before thee,
23:2  And put a sakin (knife) to thy throat, if thou be a ba’al nefesh (man given to gluttony).
23:3  Be not desirous of his delicacies, for they are lechem kezavim (deceitful food).
23:4  Overwork not to get rich; cease from thine own binah (understanding).
23:5  Wilt thou let thine eynayim fly after that which is not? For such [wealth] certainly sprouts kenafayim (wings); they fly away as a nesher (eagle) toward Shomayim.
23:6  Eat thou not the lechem of him that hath a rah ayin (evil eye, i.e., a miser), neither desire thou his delicacies;
23:7  For as he reckoneth in his nefesh, so is he. Eat and drink, saith he to thee, but his lev is not with thee.
23:8  The morsel which thou hast eaten shalt thou vomit up, and lose thy pleasant devarim.
23:9  Speak not in the oznayim of a kesil (fool), for he will despise the seichel of thy words.
23:10  Remove not the gevul olam (ancient landmark); and enter not into the sadot of the yetomim (fatherless ones, orphans),
23:11  For their Go’el is chazak (strong); He shall plead their cause against thee.
23:12  Apply thine lev unto musar, and thine oznayim to the words of da’as.
23:13  Withhold not musar (correction) from the na’ar (child), for if thou spank him with the shevet, he shall not die.
23:14  Thou shalt spank him with the shevet, and shalt save his nefesh from Sheol.
23:15  Beni (my son), if thine lev be chacham, my own lev shall have simchah.
23:16  Indeed, my inmost being shall rejoice, when thy sfatayim (lips) speak meisharim (upright things).
23:17  Let not thine lev envy chatta’im, but be thou in the Yirat Hashem kol hayom.
23:18  For surely there is an acharit (latter end, future), and thine tikvah shall not be cut off.
23:19  Hear thou, beni (my son), and be chacham, and guide thine lev straight on the derech.
23:20  Be not among yayin gluttons; among gluttonous eaters of basar,
23:21  For the drunkard and the zolel (glutton) shall come to poverty, and drowsiness shall clothe with rags.
23:22  Pay heed unto avicha that fathered thee, and despise not immecha when she is old.
23:23  Buy emes, and sell it not; also chochmah, and musar, and binah (understanding).
23:24  Avi tzaddik (the father of a righteous one) shall greatly rejoice, and he that fathereth a chacham shall have simchah in him.
23:25  Avicha and immecha shall be glad, and she that bore thee shall rejoice.
23:26  Beni (my son), give me thine lev, and let thine eynayim delight in my drakhim.
23:27  For a zonah is a deep pit, and a nokhriyah (strange woman, foreign woman, seductress, unfaithful wife) is a narrow well.
23:28  She also lieth in wait like a road bandit, and increaseth the bogedim (unfaithful) among adam (mankind).
23:29  Who hath oy (woe)? Who hath sorrow? Who hath strifes? Who hath complaint? Who hath needless wounds? Who hath bloodshot eynayim?
23:30  They that tarry long at the yayin, they that turn in to sample mixed wine.
23:31  Stare not thou into the yayin when it is red, when it sparkles in the kos (cup), when it goeth down smoothly.
23:32  At the acharit (latter end, future) it biteth like a nachash, and stingeth with venomous poisons like a viper.
23:33  Thine eynayim shall behold zarot (strange women), and thine lev shall utter perverse things.
23:34  Indeed, thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the lev yam (heart 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. Mosai (when) shall I awake? I will seek yet another drink.