23:1 When you sit down to eat with a ruler, consider carefully what is before you; |
23:2 And put a knife to your throat, if you are a man given to appetite. |
23:3 Do not desire his delicacies, for they are the bread of lies. |
23:4 Do not weary yourself to be rich; cease from your own wisdom. |
23:5 When your eyes look upon it, it is gone! For surely riches make wings for themselves, and they fly into heaven like an eagle. |
23:6 Do not eat the bread of him who has an evil eye, nor desire his dainty foods; |
23:7 For as he thinks in his heart, so is he; "Eat and drink," he says to you, but his heart is not with you. |
23:8 The morsel which you have eaten, you shall vomit up, and spoil your pleasant words. |
23:9 Do not speak in the ears of a fool, for he will despise the wisdom of your words. |
23:10 Do not remove the old landmarks, and do not enter into the fields of the fatherless; |
23:11 For their Redeemer is mighty; He shall plead their cause with you. |
23:12 Apply your heart to instruction and your ears to the words of knowledge. |
23:13 Do not withhold correction from a child, for if you beat him with the rod, he will not die. |
23:14 You shall beat him with the rod, and shall deliver his soul from the grave. |
23:15 My son, if your heart is wise, my heart shall rejoice, even mine. |
23:16 Yea, my heart shall rejoice when your lips speak right things. |
23:17 Do not let your heart envy sinners, but be in the fear of the LORD all the day long; |
23:18 For surely there is a hereafter, and your hope shall not be cut off. |
23:19 My son, hear and be wise, and guide your heart in the way. |
23:20 Do not be among those who drink much wine, among gluttons of flesh, |
23:21 For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty, and sleepiness shall clothe a man with rags. |
23:22 Hearken to your father who begat you, and do not despise your mother when she is old. |
23:23 Buy the truth, and sell it not; also wisdom, and instruction, and understanding. |
23:24 The father of the righteous shall greatly rejoice, and he who begets a wise child shall have joy from him. |
23:25 Your father and your mother shall be glad, and she who bore you shall rejoice. |
23:26 My son, give me your heart, and let your eyes observe my ways, |
23:27 For a harlot is a deep ditch, and a wanton woman is a narrow pit. |
23:28 She also lies in wait as for prey and increases the transgressors among men. |
23:29 Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has fighting? Who has babbling? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes? |
23:30 Those who stay long at the wine, those who go to seek mixed wine. |
23:31 Do not look upon the wine when it is red, when it gives its color in the cup, when it goes down smoothly; |
23:32 In the end it bites like an asp and stings like an adder. |
23:33 Your eyes shall look upon strange things and your heart shall speak perverse things. |
23:34 Yea, you shall be as one who lies down in the middle of the sea, or as one who lies upon the top of a mast, |
23:35 Saying, "They struck me; I was not hurt; they beat me, but I did not feel it. When I awaken, I will seek it yet again." |