23:1 When thou sittest to eat with a ruler, consider well 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 it? it is gone; 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 one that hath reckoned 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 ears 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 with 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 though thou beat him with the rod, he will not die.
23:14 Thou beatest him with the rod, and wilt deliver his soul from the nether-world.
23:15 My son, if thy heart be wise, my heart will be glad, even mine;
23:16 Yea, my reins will rejoice, when thy lips speak right things.
23:17 Let not thy heart envy sinners, but be in the fear of the Lord all the day;
23:18 For surely there is a future; 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 shall clothe a man with rags.
23:22 Hearken unto thy father that begot thee, and despise not thy 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 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 bore thee rejoice.
23:26 My son, give me thy heart, and let thine eyes observe my ways.
23:27 For a harlot is a deep ditch; and an alien woman is a narrow pit.
23:28 She also lieth in wait as a robber, and increaseth the faithless among men.
23:29 Who crieth: 'Woe'? who: 'Alas'? Who hath contentions? who hath raving? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes?
23:30 They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to try mixed wine.
23:31 Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth its colour in the cup, when it glideth down smoothly;
23:32 At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like a basilisk.
23:33 Thine eyes shall behold strange things, and thy heart shall utter confused 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 struck me, and I felt it not, they have beaten me, and I knew it not; when shall I awake? I will seek it yet again.'