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Proverbs 23
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1When you sit to eat with a ruler,
- consider diligently what is before you;
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2put a knife to your throat,
- if you are a man given to appetite.
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3Don’t be desirous of his dainties,
- since they are deceitful food.
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4Don’t weary yourself to be rich.
- In your wisdom, show restraint.
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5Why do you set your eyes on that which is not?
- For it certainly sprouts wings like an eagle and flies in the sky.
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6Don’t eat the food of him who has a stingy eye,
- and don’t crave his delicacies:
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7for as he thinks about the cost, so he is.
- “Eat and drink!” he says to you,
- but his heart is not with you.
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8The morsel which you have eaten you shall vomit up,
- and lose your good words.
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9Don’t speak in the ears of a fool,
- for he will despise the wisdom of your words.
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10Don’t move the ancient boundary stone.
- Don’t encroach on the fields of the fatherless:
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11for their Defender is strong.
- He will plead their case against you.
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12Apply your heart to instruction,
- and your ears to the words of knowledge.
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13Don’t withhold correction from a child.
- If you punish him with the rod, he will not die.
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14Punish him with the rod,
- and save his soul from Sheol.
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15My son, if your heart is wise,
- then my heart will be glad, even mine:
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16yes, my heart will rejoice,
- when your lips speak what is right.
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17Don’t let your heart envy sinners;
- but rather fear Yahweh all the day long.
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18Indeed surely there is a future hope,
- and your hope will not be cut off.
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19Listen, my son, and be wise,
- and keep your heart on the right path!
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20Don’t be among ones drinking too much wine,
- or those who gorge themselves on meat:
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21for the drunkard and the glutton shall become poor;
- and drowsiness clothes them in rags.
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22Listen to your father who gave you life,
- and don’t despise your mother when she is old.
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23Buy the truth, and don’t sell it.
- Get wisdom, discipline, and understanding.
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24The father of the righteous has great joy.
- Whoever fathers a wise child delights in him.
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25Let your father and your mother be glad!
- Let her who bore you rejoice!
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26My son, give me your heart;
- and let your eyes keep in my ways.
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27For a prostitute is a deep pit;
- and a wayward wife is a narrow well.
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28Yes, she lies in wait like a robber,
- and increases the unfaithful among men.
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29Who has woe?
- Who has sorrow?
- Who has strife?
- Who has complaints?
- Who has needless bruises?
- Who has bloodshot eyes?
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30Those who stay long at the wine;
- those who go to seek out mixed wine.
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31Don’t look at the wine when it is red,
- when it sparkles in the cup,
- when it goes down smoothly.
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32In the end, it bites like a snake,
- and poisons like a viper.
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33Your eyes will see strange things,
- and your mind will imagine confusing things.
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34Yes, you will be as he who lies down in the midst of the sea,
- or as he who lies on top of the rigging:
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35“They hit me, and I was not hurt!
- They beat me, and I don’t feel it!
- When will I wake up? I can do it again.
- I can find another.”
