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[1] When thou sittest to eat with a ruler, Consider diligently him that is before thee;

[2] And put a knife to thy throat, If thou be a man given to appetite.

[3] Be not desirous of his dainties; Seeing they are deceitful food.

[4] Weary not thyself to be rich; Cease from thine own wisdom.

[5] Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not? For riches certainly make themselves wings, Like an eagle that flieth toward heaven.

[6] Eat thou not the bread of him that hath an evil eye, Neither desire thou his dainties:

[7] For as he thinketh within himself, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; But his heart is not with thee.

[8] The morsel which thou hast eaten shalt thou vomit up, And lose thy sweet words.

[9] Speak not in the hearing of a fool; For he will despise the wisdom of thy words.

[10] Remove not the ancient landmark; And enter not into the fields of the fatherless:

[11] For their Redeemer is strong; He will plead their cause against thee.

[12] Apply thy heart unto instruction, And thine ears to the words of knowledge.

[13] Withhold not correction from the child; For if thou beat him with the rod, he will not die.

[14] Thou shalt beat him with the rod, And shalt deliver his soul from Sheol.

[15] My son, if thy heart be wise, My heart will be glad, even mine:

[16] Yea, my heart will rejoice, When thy lips speak right things.

[17] Let not thy heart envy sinners; But be thou in the fear of Jehovah all the day long:

[18] For surely there is a reward; And thy hope shall not be cut off.

[19] Hear thou, my son, and be wise, And guide thy heart in the way.

[20] Be not among winebibbers, Among gluttonous eaters of flesh:

[21] For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty; And drowsiness will clothe a man with rags.

[22] Hearken unto thy father that begat thee, And despise not thy mother when she is old.

[23] Buy the truth, and sell it not; Yea, wisdom, and instruction, and understanding.

[24] The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice; And he that begetteth a wise child will have joy of him.

[25] Let thy father and thy mother be glad, And let her that bare thee rejoice.

[26] My son, give me thy heart; And let thine eyes delight in my ways.

[27] For a harlot is a deep ditch; And a foreign woman is a narrow pit.

[28] Yea, she lieth in wait as a robber, And increaseth the treacherous among men.

[29] Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? Who hath complaining? who hath wounds without cause? Who hath redness of eyes?

[30] They that tarry long at the wine; They that go to seek out mixed wine.

[31] Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, When it sparkleth in the cup, When it goeth down smoothly:

[32] At the last it biteth like a serpent, And stingeth like an adder.

[33] Thine eyes shall behold strange things, And thy heart shall utter perverse things.

[34] 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] They have stricken me, shalt thou say, and I was not hurt; They have beaten me, and I felt it not: When shall I awake? I will seek it yet again.

Proverbs — Chapters