23:1 When thou sittest to eat with a ruler, Consider diligently him that is before thee;

23:2 And put a knife to thy throat, If thou be a man given to appetite.

23:3 Be not desirous of his dainties; Seeing they are deceitful food.

23:4 Weary not thyself to be rich; Cease from thine own wisdom.

23:5 Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not? For [riches] certainly make themselves wings, Like an eagle that flieth toward heaven.

23:6 Eat thou not the bread of him that hath an evil eye, Neither desire thou his dainties:

23:7 For as he thinketh within himself, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; But his heart is not with thee.

23:8 The morsel which thou hast eaten shalt thou vomit up, And lose thy sweet words.

23:9 Speak not in the hearing of a fool; For he will despise the wisdom of thy words.

23:10 Remove not the ancient landmark; And enter not into the fields of the fatherless:

23:11 For their Redeemer is strong; He will plead their cause against thee.

23:12 Apply thy heart unto instruction, And thine ears to the words of knowledge.

23:13 Withhold not correction from the child; [For] if thou beat him with the rod, he will not die.

23:14 Thou shalt beat him with the rod, And shalt deliver his soul from Sheol.

23:15 My son, if thy heart be wise, My heart will be glad, even mine:

23:16 Yea, my heart will rejoice, When thy lips speak right things.

23:17 Let not thy heart envy sinners; But [be thou] in the fear of Jehovah all the day long:

23:18 For surely there is a reward; And thy hope shall not be cut off.

23:19 Hear thou, my son, and be wise, And guide thy heart in the way.

23:20 Be not among winebibbers, Among gluttonous eaters of flesh:

23:21 For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty; And drowsiness will clothe [a man] with rags.

23:22 Hearken unto thy father that begat thee, And despise not thy mother when she is old.

23:23 Buy the truth, and sell it not; [Yea], wisdom, and instruction, and understanding.

23:24 The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice; And he that begetteth a wise child will have joy of him.

23:25 Let thy father and thy mother be glad, And let her that bare thee rejoice.

23:26 My son, give me thy heart; And let thine eyes delight in my ways.

23:27 For a harlot is a deep ditch; And a foreign woman is a narrow pit.

23:28 Yea, she lieth in wait as a robber, And increaseth the treacherous among men.

23:29 Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? Who hath complaining? who hath wounds without cause? Who hath redness of eyes?

23:30 They that tarry long at the wine; They that go to seek out mixed wine.

23:31 Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, When it sparkleth in the cup, When it goeth down smoothly:

23:32 At the last it biteth like a serpent, And stingeth like an adder.

23:33 Thine eyes shall behold strange things, And thy heart shall utter perverse things.

23:34 Yea, thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst 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: When shall I awake? I will seek it yet again.