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 given to appetite. 23:3 Do not desire his delicacies, for they are deceptive food. 23:4 Do not toil to acquire wealth; be discerning enough to desist. 23:5 When your eyes light on it, it is gone, for suddenly it sprouts 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 calculating. "Eat and drink!" he says to you, but his heart is not with you. 23:8 You will vomit up the morsels that you have eaten, and waste your pleasant words. 23:9 Do not speak in the hearing of a fool, for he will despise the good sense of your words. 23:10 Do not move 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 heart to instruction and your ear to words of knowledge. 23:13 Do not withhold discipline from a child; if you strike him with a rod, he will not die. 23:14 If you strike him with the rod, you will save his soul from Sheol. 23:15 My son, if your heart is wise, my heart too will be glad. 23:16 My inmost being will exult 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 heart in the way. 23:20 Be not among drunkards or among gluttonous eaters of meat, 23:21 for the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty, and slumber will clothe them with rags. 23:22 Listen to your father who gave you life, 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 fathers 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 prostitute is a deep pit; an adulteress is a narrow well. 23:28 She lies in wait like a robber and increases the traitors among mankind. 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 In the end it bites like a serpent and stings like an adder. 23:33 Your eyes will see strange things, and your heart 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 must have another drink."