Chapter 23

  When thou sittest to eat with a ruler, consider diligently what is before thee:  

-

  And put a knife to thy throat, if thou art a man given to appetite.  

-

  Be not desirous of his dainties: for they are deceitful food.  

-

  Labor not to be rich: cease from thy own wisdom.  

-

  Wilt thou set thy eyes upon that which is not? for riches certainly make to themselves wings; they fly away as an eagle towards heaven.  

-

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

-

  For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee.  

-

  The morsel which thou hast eaten shalt thou vomit up, and lose thy sweet words.  

-

  Speak not in the ears of a fool: for he will despise the wisdom of thy words.  

-

  Remove not the old landmark; and enter not into the fields of the fatherless:  

-

  For their redeemer is mighty; he will plead their cause with thee.  

-

  Apply thy heart to instruction, and thy ears to the words of knowledge.  

-

  Withhold not correction from the child: for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die.  

-

  Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell.  

-

  My son, if thy heart be wise, my heart shall rejoice, even mine.  

-

  Yes, my reins shall rejoice, when thy lips speak right things.  

-

  Let not thy heart envy sinners: but be thou in the fear of the LORD all the day long.  

-

  For surely there is an end; and thy expectation shall not be cut off.  

-

  Hear thou, my son, and be wise, and guide thy heart in the way.  

-

  Be not among wine-bibbers; among riotous eaters of flesh:  

-

  For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty: and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags.  

-

  Hearken to thy father that begat thee, and despise not thy mother when she is old.  

-

  Buy the truth, and sell it not; also wisdom, and instruction, and understanding.  

-

  The father of the righteous shall greatly rejoice: and he that begetteth a wise child shall have joy of him.  

-

  Thy father and thy mother shall be glad, and she that bore thee shall rejoice.  

-

  My son, give me thy heart, and let thy eyes observe my ways.  

-

  For a lewd woman is a deep ditch; and a strange woman is a narrow pit.  

-

  She also lieth in wait as for a prey, and increaseth the transgressors among men.  

-

  Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who hath babbling? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes?  

-

  They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine.  

-

  Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth its color in the cup, when it moveth itself aright.  

-

  At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder.  

-

  Thy eyes shall behold strange women, and thy heart shall utter perverse things.  

-

  And 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.  

-

  They have stricken me, wilt 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.  

-