On Life and Conduct
1
Proverbs 23:1
When you sit down to dine with a ruler, Consider carefully what is before you,
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Proverbs 23:2
And put a knife to your throat If you are a man of great appetite.
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Proverbs 23:3
Do not desire his delicacies, For it is deceptive food.
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Proverbs 23:4
Do not weary yourself to gain wealth, Cease from your consideration of it.
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Proverbs 23:5
When you set your eyes on it, it is gone. For wealth certainly makes itself wings Like an eagle that flies toward the heavens.
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Proverbs 23:6
Do not eat the bread of a selfish man, Or desire his delicacies;
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Proverbs 23:7
For as he thinks within himself, so he is. He says to you, “Eat and drink!” But his heart is not with you.
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Proverbs 23:8
You will vomit up the morsel you have eaten, And waste your compliments.
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Proverbs 23:9
Do not speak in the hearing of a fool, For he will despise the wisdom of your words.
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Proverbs 23:10
Do not move the ancient boundary Or go into the fields of the fatherless,
11
Proverbs 23:11
For their Redeemer is strong; He will plead their case against you.
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Proverbs 23:12
Apply your heart to discipline And your ears to words of knowledge.
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Proverbs 23:13
Do not hold back discipline from the child, Although you strike him with the rod, he will not die.
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Proverbs 23:14
You shall strike him with the rod And rescue his soul from Sheol.
15
Proverbs 23:15
My son, if your heart is wise, My own heart also will be glad;
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Proverbs 23:16
And my inmost being will rejoice When your lips speak what is right.
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Proverbs 23:17
Do not let your heart envy sinners, But live in the fear of the LORD always.
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Proverbs 23:18
Surely there is a future, And your hope will not be cut off.
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Proverbs 23:19
Listen, my son, and be wise, And direct your heart in the way.
20
Proverbs 23:20
Do not be with heavy drinkers of wine, Or with gluttonous eaters of meat;
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Proverbs 23:21
For the heavy drinker and the glutton will come to poverty, And drowsiness will clothe one with rags.
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Proverbs 23:22
Listen to your father who begot you, And do not despise your mother when she is old.
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Proverbs 23:23
Buy truth, and do not sell it, Get wisdom and instruction and understanding.
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Proverbs 23:24
The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice, And he who sires a wise son will be glad in him.
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Proverbs 23:25
Let your father and your mother be glad, And let her rejoice who gave birth to you.
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Proverbs 23:26
Give me your heart, my son, And let your eyes delight in my ways.
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Proverbs 23:27
For a harlot is a deep pit And an adulterous woman is a narrow well.
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Proverbs 23:28
Surely she lurks as a robber, And increases the faithless among men.
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Proverbs 23:29
Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has complaining? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes?
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Proverbs 23:30
Those who linger long over wine, Those who go to taste mixed wine.
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Proverbs 23:31
Do not look on the wine when it is red, When it sparkles in the cup, When it goes down smoothly;
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Proverbs 23:32
At the last it bites like a serpent And stings like a viper.
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Proverbs 23:33
Your eyes will see strange things And your mind will utter perverse things.
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Proverbs 23:34
And you will be like one who lies down in the middle of the sea, Or like one who lies down on the top of a mast.
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Proverbs 23:35
“They struck me, but I did not become ill; They beat me, but I did not know it. When shall I awake? I will seek another drink.”
