23:1  WHEN YOU sit down to eat with a ruler, consider who {and} what are before you;

23:2  For you will put a knife to your throat if you are a man given to desire.

23:3  Be not desirous of his dainties, for it is deceitful food [offered with questionable motives].

23:4  Weary not yourself to be rich; cease from your own [human] wisdom.

23:5  Will you set your eyes upon wealth, when [suddenly] it is gone? For riches certainly make themselves wings, like an eagle that flies toward the heavens.

23:6  Eat not the bread of him who has a hard, grudging, {and} envious eye, neither desire his dainty foods;

23:7  For as he thinks in his heart, so is he. As one who reckons, he says to you, eat and drink, yet his heart is not with you [but is grudging the cost].

23:8  The morsel which you have eaten you will vomit up, and your complimentary words will be wasted.

23:9  Speak not in the ears of a [self-confident] fool, for he will despise the [godly] Wisdom of your words.

23:10  Remove not the ancient landmark and enter not into the fields of the fatherless,

23:11  For their Redeemer is mighty; He will plead their cause against you.

23:12  Apply your mind to instruction {and} correction and your ears to words of knowledge.

23:13  Withhold not discipline from the child; for if you strike {and} punish him with the [reedlike] rod, he will not die.

23:14  You shall whip him with the rod and deliver his life from Sheol (Hades, the place of the dead).

23:15  My son, if your heart is wise, my heart will be glad, even mine;

23:16  Yes, my heart will rejoice when your lips speak right things.

23:17  Let not your heart envy sinners, but continue in the reverent {and} worshipful fear of the Lord all the day long.

23:18  For surely there is a latter end [a future and a reward], and your hope {and} expectation shall not be cut off.

23:19  Hear, my son, and be wise, and direct your mind in the way [of the Lord].

23:20  Do not associate with winebibbers; be not among them {nor} among gluttonous eaters of meat,

23:21  For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty, and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags.

23:22  Hearken to your father, who begot you, and despise not your mother when she is old.

23:23  Buy the truth and sell it not; not only that, but also get discernment {and} judgment, instruction and understanding.

23:24  The father of the [uncompromisingly] righteous (the upright, in right standing with God) shall greatly rejoice, and he who becomes the father of a wise child shall have joy in him.

23:25  Let your father and your mother be glad, and let her who bore you rejoice.

23:26  My son, give me your heart and let your eyes observe {and} delight in my ways,

23:27  For a harlot is a deep ditch, and a loose woman is a narrow pit.

23:28  She also lies in wait as a robber {or} as one waits for prey, and she increases the treacherous among men.

23:29  Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has strife? Who has complaining? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness {and} dimness of eyes?

23:30  Those who tarry long at the wine, those who go to seek {and} try mixed wine.

23:31  Do not look at wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the wineglass, when it goes down smoothly.

23:32  At the last it bites like a serpent and stings like an adder.

23:33  [Under the influence of wine] your eyes will behold strange things [and loose women] and your mind will utter things turned the wrong way [untrue, incorrect, and petulant].

23:34  Yes, you will be [as unsteady] as he who lies down in the midst of the sea, and [as open to disaster] as he who lies upon the top of a mast.

23:35  You will say, They struck me, but I was not hurt! They beat me [as with a hammer], but I did not feel it! When shall I awake? I will crave {and} seek more wine again [and escape reality].