Page 23 of 31
When thou sittest to eat with a ruler, consider diligently what [is] before thee:
(23:1)
And put a knife to thy throat, if thou [be] a man given to appetite
(23:2)
Be not desirous of his dainties: for they [are] deceitful meat
(23:3)
Labour not to be rich: cease from thine own wisdom
(23:4)
Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not? for [riches] certainly make themselves wings; they fly away as an eagle toward heaven
(23:5)
Eat thou not the bread of [him that hath] an evil eye, neither desire thou his dainty meats:
(23:6)
For as he thinketh in his heart, so [is] he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart [is] not with thee
(23:7)
The morsel [which] thou hast eaten shalt thou vomit up, and lose thy sweet words
(23:8)
Speak not in the ears of a fool: for he will despise the wisdom of thy words
(23:9)
Remove not the old landmark; and enter not into the fields of the fatherless:
(23:10)
For their redeemer [is] mighty; he shall plead their cause with thee
(23:11)
Apply thine heart unto instruction, and thine ears to the words of knowledge
(23:12)
Withhold not correction from the child: for [if] thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die
(23:13)
Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell
(23:14)
My son, if thine heart be wise, my heart shall rejoice, even mine
(23:15)
Yea, my reins shall rejoice, when thy lips speak right things
(23:16)
Let not thine heart envy sinners: but [be thou] in the fear of the Lord all the day long
(23:17)
For surely there is an end; and thine expectation shall not be cut off
(23:18)
Hear thou, my son, and be wise, and guide thine heart in the way
(23:19)
Be not among winebibbers; among riotous eaters of flesh:
(23:20)
For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty: and drowsiness shall clothe [a man] with rags
(23:21)
Hearken unto thy father that begat thee, and despise not thy mother when she is old
(23:22)
Buy the truth, and sell [it] not; [also] wisdom, and instruction, and understanding
(23:23)
The father of the righteous shall greatly rejoice: and he that begetteth a wise [child] shall have joy of him
(23:24)
Thy father and thy mother shall be glad, and she that bare thee shall rejoice
(23:25)
My son, give me thine heart, and let thine eyes observe my ways
(23:26)
For a whore [is] a deep ditch; and a strange woman [is] a narrow pit
(23:27)
She also lieth in wait as [for] a prey, and increaseth the transgressors among men
(23:28)
Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who hath babbling? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes?
(23:29)
They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine
(23:30)
Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, [when] it moveth itself aright
(23:31)
At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder
(23:32)
Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thine heart shall utter perverse things
(23:33)
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
(23:34)
They have stricken me, [shalt thou say, and] I was not sick; they have beaten me, [and] I felt [it] not: when shall I awake? I will seek it yet again
(23:35)
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