Proverbs 23

When you sit to eat with a ruler,

Consider diligently what is before you;

²Put a knife to your throat,

If you are a man given to appetite.

³Do not be desirous of his dainties,

Seeing they are deceitful food.

⁴Do not weary yourself to be rich.

In your wisdom, show restraint.

⁵Why do you set your eyes on that which is not?

For it certainly sprouts wings like an eagle and flies in the sky.

⁶Do not eat the food of him who has a stingy eye,

And do not crave his delicacies:

⁷For as he thinks about the cost, so he is.

"Eat and drink!" he says to you,

But his heart is not with you.

⁸The morsel which you have eaten you shall vomit up,

And lose your good words.

⁹Do not speak in the ears of a fool,

For he will despise the wisdom of your words.

¹⁰Do not move the ancient boundary stone.

Do not encroach on the fields of the fatherless:

¹¹For their Defender is strong.

He will plead their case against you.

¹²Apply your heart to instruction,

And your ears to the words of knowledge.

¹³Do not withhold correction from a child.

If you punish him with the rod, he will not die.

¹⁴Punish him with the rod,

And save his soul from the grave.

¹⁵My son, if your heart is wise,

Then my heart will be glad, even mine:

¹⁶Yes, my heart will rejoice,

When your lips speak what is right.

¹⁷Do not let your heart envy sinners;

But rather fear Allah all the day long.

¹⁸Indeed surely there is a future hope,

And your hope will not be cut off.

¹⁹Listen, my son, and be wise,

And keep your heart on the right path!

²⁰Do not be among ones drinking too much wine,

Or those who gorge themselves on meat:

²¹For the drunkard and the glutton shall become poor;

And drowsiness clothes them in rags.

²²Listen to your father who gave you life,

And do not despise your mother when she is old.

²³Buy the truth, and do not sell it:

Get wisdom, discipline, and understanding.

²⁴The father of the righteous has great joy.

Whoever fathers a wise child delights in him.

²⁵Let your father and your mother be glad!

Let her who bore you rejoice!

²⁶My son, give me your heart;

And let your eyes keep in my ways.

²⁷For a prostitute is a deep pit;

And a wayward wife is a narrow well.

²⁸Yes, she lies in wait like a robber,

And increases the unfaithful among men.

²⁹Who has woe?

Who has sorrow?

Who has strife?

Who has complaints?

Who has needless bruises?

Who has bloodshot eyes?

³⁰Those who stay long at the wine;

Those who go to seek out mixed wine.

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

When it sparkles in the cup,

When it goes down smoothly:

³²In the end, it bites like a snake,

And poisons like a viper.

³³Your eyes will see strange things,

And your mind will imagine confusing things.

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:

³⁵"They hit me, and I was not hurt;

They beat me, and I do not feel it!

When will I wake up? I can do it again.

I can find another."

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