23 1 When you sit down to dine with a ruler, consider carefully what is before you, 2 and put a knife to your throat if you are a person ruled by appetite. 3 Do not crave his delicacies, for they are deceptive food.
4 Do not wear yourself out to get rich; have the wisdom to restrain yourself. 5 The moment you look at wealth, it is gone, for it suddenly sprouts wings and flies off toward the heavens like an eagle.
6 Do not eat the bread of a stingy man, and do not crave his delicacies, 7 for he is the kind of man who keeps counting the cost. "Eat and drink!" he says to you, but his heart is not with you. 8 You will vomit up the little you have eaten and will have wasted your pleasant words.
9 Do not speak in the hearing of a fool, for he will despise the wisdom of your words.
10 Do not move an ancient boundary stone or encroach on the fields of the fatherless, 11 for their Redeemer is strong; our Father will take up their cause against you. a a v11 When someone wrongs the orphan who has no one to defend them, our Father himself becomes their defender and takes their case as his own.
12 Apply your heart to instruction and your ears to words of knowledge.
13 Do not withhold discipline from a child; if you strike him with the rod, he will not die. 14 Strike him with the rod, and you will deliver his soul from the grave.
15 My son, if your heart is wise, my own heart will be glad as well. 16 My inmost being will rejoice when your lips speak what is right.
17 Do not let your heart envy sinners, but continue in the fear of our Father all day long. 18 Surely there is a future, and your hope will not be cut off.
19 Hear, my son, and be wise, and keep your heart on the right road. 20 Do not be among those who get drunk on wine or those who gorge themselves on meat, 21 for the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty, and drowsiness will clothe them in rags.
22 Listen to your father, who gave you life, and do not despise your mother when she is old. 23 Buy truth and do not sell it; buy wisdom, instruction, and understanding. 24 The father of a righteous child will greatly rejoice; whoever fathers a wise son will delight in him. 25 Let your father and mother be glad; let her who gave you birth rejoice.
26 My son, give me your heart, and let your eyes delight in my ways. 27 For a prostitute is a deep pit, and an adulterous woman is a narrow well. 28 She lies in wait like a robber and leads many men into faithlessness.
29 Who has misery? Who has sorrow? Who has strife? Who has complaints? Who has wounds for no reason? Who has bleary eyes? 30 Those who linger long over wine, those who go to sample bowls of mixed wine. 31 Do not gaze at wine while it is red, while it sparkles in the cup and goes down smoothly. 32 In the end it bites like a serpent and stings like a viper. 33 Your eyes will see strange things, and your heart will utter twisted things. 34 You will be like one lying down in the heart of the sea, like one lying on the top of a ship's mast. 35 "They struck me, but I felt no pain; they beat me, but I did not know it. When will I wake up? I will look for another drink."