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                                                                                    Proverbs 23 
                                                                                      
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                | King James Version 
 
                  
                    | 1  When thou sittest to eat with a ruler, consider diligently what 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: for they are deceitful meat.
 4 Labour not 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; they fly away as an eagle toward 
            heaven.
 6 Eat thou not the bread of him that hath an evil eye, neither 
            desire thou his dainty meats:
 7 For as he thinketh in his heart, 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 ears of a fool: for he will despise the wisdom of 
            thy words.
 10 Remove not the old landmark; and enter not into the fields of the 
            fatherless:
 11 For their redeemer is mighty; he shall plead their cause with 
            thee.
 12 Apply thine heart unto instruction, and thine ears to the words 
            of knowledge.
 13 Withhold not correction from the child: for if thou beatest him 
            with the rod, he shall not die.
 14 Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from 
            hell.
 15 My son, if thine heart be wise, my heart shall rejoice, even 
            mine.
 16 Yea, my reins shall rejoice, when thy lips speak right things.
 17 Let not thine heart envy sinners: but be thou in the fear of the 
            LORD all the day long.
 18 For surely there is an end; and thine expectation shall not be 
            cut off.
 19 Hear thou, my son, and be wise, and guide thine heart in the way.
 20 Be not among winebibbers; among riotous eaters of flesh:
 21 For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty: and 
            drowsiness shall 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; also wisdom, and instruction, and 
            understanding.
 24 The father of the righteous shall greatly rejoice: and he that 
            begetteth a wise child shall have joy of him.
 25 Thy father and thy mother shall be glad, and she that bare thee 
            shall rejoice.
 26 My son, give me thine heart, and let thine eyes observe my ways.
 27 For a whore is a deep ditch; and a strange woman is a narrow pit.
 28 She also lieth in wait as for a prey, and increaseth the 
            transgressors among men.
 29 Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who hath 
            babbling? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes?
 30 They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed 
            wine.
 31 Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his 
            colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright.
 32 At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder.
 33 Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thine 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 sick; they 
            have beaten me, and I felt it not: when shall I awake? I will seek 
            it yet again.1
 
 
 References and notes
 1.  King James Authorized Version
 2.  Clarke's 
            Commentary - Proverbs 23 - http://www.godrules.net/library/clarke/clarkepro23.htm
 3.  What is the 
            "rod" mentioned in Proverbs? - http://www.religioustolerance.org/spankin13.htm
 4.  Studies on Proverbs - http://www.pbministries.org/Landmark_Baptist/Seminary/
 Bible_Study_Courses/Proverbs/DH_introduction.htm
 
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