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[1] WHEN you sit to eat with a ruler, consider diligently what is set before you,
[2] That you may not put poison in your mouth. And if you are a man given to excessive appetite,
[3] Be not desirous of his food; for his bread is bread of deceit
[4] Do not quarrel with a rich man; but keep away from him wisely.
[5] For if you should fix your eye on him, you cannot see him; for he makes for himself wings like an eagle and flies away toward the sky
[6] Do not eat with a hypocrite, neither desire his food;
[7] For he is like him that swallows pitch; in like manner you will eat and drink with him, but his heart is not with you.
[8] The morsel which you have eaten you will vomit up, and you will lose your sweet words
[9] Do not speak in the presence of a fool; for he will despise the wisdom of your words
[10] Do not remove the old landmark; nor enter into the field of the fatherless;
[11] For their saviour is mighty; he will plead their cause with you
[12] Apply your heart to instruction, and your ears to the words of knowledge.
[13] Do not withhold chastisement from a child; for if you beat him, he will not die.
[14] For when you beat him with the rod, you will deliver his soul from Sheol.
[15] My son, if your heart be wise, my heart also will rejoice.
[16] Yea, my heart shall rejoice, when your lips speak right things
[17] Let not your heart envy sinners; but revere the LORD all the day long.
[18] For surely you will have a future; and your hope shall not be cut off
[19] Hear, my son, and be wise, and fasten my counsel in your heart.
[20] Be not drunk with wine; and be not a gluttonous eater of meat:
[21] For the drunkard and the gluttonous shall come to poverty; and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags.
[22] Listen to your father who begot you, and do not despise your mother when she is old.
[23] Buy the truth, and do not sell wisdom; also buy understanding and instruction.
[24] The father of a righteous man shall greatly rejoice; and he who begets a wise child shall be glad.
[25] Your father and your mother shall rejoice in you; and the one who bore you shall be happy.
[26] My son. give me your heart, and let your eyes observe my ways.
[27] For a harlot is a deep pit; and a strange woman is a narrow well.
[28] She destroys men suddenly, and increases iniquity among men
[29] Who has woe? Who has trouble? Who has contentions? Who has hardships? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes?
[30] Those who tarry long over the wine; and who search for a place of drinking. Be not drunken with wine, but converse with righteous men; walk and talk with them.
[31] Do not look on the wine when it is red in the cup, but meditate on righteousness.
[32] For at the last it bites like a serpent and stings like an adder.
[33] When your eyes behold a strange woman, then your heart shall utter perverse things.
[34] Yea, you shall be as he who lies down in the midst of the sea, or as a sailor in a tempest.
[35] They have beaten me, you shall say, but I did not suffer, they have mocked me, but I did not know it; when I shall awake sober, I will go and seek it yet again
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