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