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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 have a big appetite. 23:3 Do not desire the ruler's delicacies, for they are deceptive food. 23:4 Do not wear yourself out to get rich; be wise enough to desist. 23:5 When your eyes light upon it, it is gone; for suddenly it takes wings to itself, flying like an eagle toward heaven. 23:6 Do not eat the bread of the stingy; do not desire their delicacies; 23:7 for like a hair in the throat, so are they. "Eat and drink!" they say to you; but they do not mean it. 23:8 You will vomit up the little you have eaten, and you will waste your pleasant words. 23:9 Do not speak in the hearing of a fool, who will only despise the wisdom of your words. 23:10 Do not remove an ancient landmark or encroach on the fields of orphans, 23:11 for their redeemer is strong; he will plead their cause against you. 23:12 Apply your mind to instruction and your ear to words of knowledge. 23:13 Do not withhold discipline from your children; if you beat them with a rod, they will not die. 23:14 If you beat them with the rod, you will save their lives from Sheol. 23:15 My child, if your heart is wise, my heart too will be glad. 23:16 My soul will rejoice when your lips speak what is right. 23:17 Do not let your heart envy sinners, but always continue in the fear of the LORD. 23:18 Surely there is a future, and your hope will not be cut off. 23:19 Hear, my child, and be wise, and direct your mind in the way. 23:20 Do not be among winebibbers, or among gluttonous eaters of meat; 23:21 for the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty, and drowsiness will clothe them with rags. 23:22 Listen to your father who begot you, 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 begets 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 child, 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 number of the faithless. 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 linger late over wine, those who keep trying mixed wines. 23:31 Do not look at wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup and goes down smoothly. 23:32 At the last it bites like a serpent, and stings like an adder. 23:33 Your eyes will see strange things, and your mind 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 will seek another drink."