Chapter 23

On Life and Conduct

1 When you sit down to dine with a ruler,

Consider carefully 1what is before you,

2 And put a knife to your throat

If you are a aman of great appetite.

3 Do not adesire his delicacies,

For it is deceptive food.

4 aDo not weary yourself to gain wealth,

bCease from your 1consideration of it.

5 1When you set your eyes on it, it is gone.

For awealth certainly makes itself wings

Like an eagle that flies toward the heavens.

6 aDo not eat the bread of 1a bselfish man,

Or desire his delicacies;

7 For as he 1thinks within himself, so he is.

He says to you, “Eat and drink!”

But ahis heart is not with you.

8 You will avomit up 1the morsel you have eaten,

And waste your 2compliments.

9 aDo not speak in the 1hearing of a fool,

For he will bdespise the wisdom of your words.

10 Do not move the ancient boundary

Or ago into the fields of the fatherless,

11 For their aRedeemer is strong;

bHe will plead their case against you.

12 Apply your heart to discipline

And your ears to words of knowledge.

13 aDo not hold back discipline from the child,

Although you 1strike him with the rod, he will not die.

14 You shall 1strike him with the rod

And arescue his soul from Sheol.

15 My son, if your heart is awise,

My own heart also will be glad;

16 And my 1inmost being will rejoice

When your lips speak awhat is right.

17 aDo not let your heart envy sinners,

But live in the 1bfear of the Lord 2always.

18 Surely there is a 1afuture,

And your bhope will not be cut off.

19 Listen, my son, and abe wise,

And bdirect your heart in the way.

20 Do not be with aheavy drinkers of wine,

Or with bgluttonous eaters of meat;

21 For the aheavy drinker and the glutton will come to poverty,

And bdrowsiness will clothe one with rags.

22 aListen to your father who begot you,

And bdo not despise your mother when she is old.

23 aBuy truth, and do not sell it,

Get wisdom and instruction and understanding.

24 The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice,

And ahe who sires a wise son will be glad in him.

25 Let your afather and your mother be glad,

And let her rejoice who gave birth to you.

26 aGive me your heart, my son,

And let your eyes 1bdelight in my ways.

27 For a harlot is a adeep pit

And an 1badulterous woman is a narrow well.

28 Surely she alurks as a robber,

And increases the 1faithless among men.

29 Who has awoe? Who has sorrow?

Who has contentions? Who has complaining?

Who has wounds without cause?

Who has redness of eyes?

30 Those who alinger long over wine,

Those who go to 1taste bmixed wine.

31 Do not look on the wine when it is red,

When it 1sparkles in the cup,

When it agoes down smoothly;

32 At the last it abites like a serpent

And stings like a bviper.

33 Your eyes will see strange things

And your 1mind will autter perverse things.

34 And you will be like one who lies down in the 1middle of the sea,

Or like one who lies down on the top of a 2mast.

35 “They astruck me, but I did not become 1ill;

They beat me, but I did not know it.

When shall I awake?

I will bseek 2another drink.”