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23:1  When you sit down to eat with a ruler, observe carefully what is before you,
23:2  and put a knife to your throat if you are given to appetite.
23:3  Do not desire his delicacies, for they are deceptive food.
23:4  Do not toil to acquire wealth; be discerning enough to desist.
23:5  When your eyes light on it, it is gone, for suddenly it sprouts wings, flying like an eagle toward heaven.
23:6  Do not eat the bread of a man who is stingy; do not desire his delicacies,
23:7  for he is like one who is inwardly calculating. “Eat and drink!” he says to you, but his heart is not with you.
23:8  You will vomit up the morsels that you have eaten, and waste your pleasant words.
23:9  Do not speak in the hearing of a fool, for he will despise the good sense of your words.
23:10  Do not move an ancient landmark or enter the fields of the fatherless,
23:11  for their Redeemer is strong; he will plead their cause against you.
23:12  Apply your heart to instruction and your ear to words of knowledge.
23:13  Do not withhold discipline from a child; if you strike him with a rod, he will not die.
23:14  If you strike him with the rod, you will save his soul from Sheol.
23:15  My son, if your heart is wise, my heart too will be glad.
23:16  My inmost being will exult when your lips speak what is right.
23:17  Let not your heart envy sinners, but continue in the fear of the LORD all the day.
23:18  Surely there is a future, and your hope will not be cut off.
23:19  Hear, my son, and be wise, and direct your heart in the way.
23:20  Be not among drunkards or among gluttonous eaters of meat,
23:21  for the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty, and slumber will clothe them with rags.
23:22  Listen to your father who gave you life, and do not despise your mother when she is old.
23:23  Buy truth, and do not sell it; buy wisdom, instruction, and understanding.
23:24  The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice; he who fathers a wise son will be glad in him.
23:25  Let your father and mother be glad; let her who bore you rejoice.
23:26  My son, give me your heart, and let your eyes observe my ways.
23:27  For a prostitute is a deep pit; an adulteress is a narrow well.
23:28  She lies in wait like a robber and increases the traitors among mankind.
23:29  Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has strife? Who has complaining? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes?
23:30  Those who tarry long over wine; those who go to try mixed wine.
23:31  Do not look at wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup and goes down smoothly.
23:32  In the end it bites like a serpent and stings like an adder.
23:33  Your eyes will see strange things, and your heart utter perverse things.
23:34  You will be like one who lies down in the midst of the sea, like one who lies on the top of a mast.
23:35  “They struck me,” you will say, “but I was not hurt; they beat me, but I did not feel it. When shall I awake? I must have another drink.”