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Proverbs 23, RSV

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 a man given to appetite.

23:3 Do not desire his delicacies, for they are deceptive food.

23:4 Do not toil to acquire wealth; be wise enough to desist.

23:5 When your eyes light upon it, it is gone; for suddenly it takes to itself 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 reckoning. "Eat and drink!" he says to you; but his heart is not with you.

23:8 You will vomit up the morsels which you have eaten, and waste your pleasant words.

23:9 Do not speak in the hearing of a fool, for he will despise the wisdom of your words.

23:10 Do not remove 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 mind to instruction and your ear to words of knowledge.

23:13 Do not withhold discipline from a child; if you beat him with a rod, he will not die.

23:14 If you beat him with the rod you will save his life from Sheol.

23:15 My son, 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 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 mind in the way.

23:20 Be not among winebibbers, or among gluttonous eaters of meat;

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

23:22 Hearken 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 son, give me your heart, and let your eyes observe my ways.

23:27 For a harlot is a deep pit; an adventuress is a narrow well.

23:28 She lies in wait like a robber and increases the faithless among men.

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 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."

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