| 1 |
When you sit to eat with a ruler, consider diligently what is before you;
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| 2 |
put a knife to your throat if you are a man given to appetite.
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| 3 |
Don’t be desirous of his dainties, since they are deceitful food.
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| 4 |
Don’t weary yourself to be rich. In your wisdom, show restraint.
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| 5 |
Why do you set your eyes on that which is not? For it certainly sprouts wings like an eagle and flies in the sky.
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| 6 |
Don’t eat the food of him who has a stingy eye, and don’t crave his delicacies,
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| 7 |
for as he thinks about the cost, so he is. “Eat and drink!” he says to you, but his heart is not with you.
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| 8 |
You will vomit up the morsel which you have eaten and waste your pleasant words.
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| 9 |
Don’t speak in the ears of a fool, for he will despise the wisdom of your words.
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| 10 |
Don’t move the ancient boundary stone. Don’t encroach on the fields of the fatherless,
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| 11 |
for their Defender is strong. He will plead their case against you.
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| 12 |
Apply your heart to instruction, and your ears to the words of knowledge.
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| 13 |
Don’t withhold correction from a child. If you punish him with the rod, he will not die.
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| 14 |
Punish him with the rod, and save his soul from Sheol.
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| 15 |
My son, if your heart is wise, then my heart will be glad, even mine.
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| 16 |
Yes, my heart will rejoice when your lips speak what is right.
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| 17 |
Don’t let your heart envy sinners, but rather fear Yahweh all day long.
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| 18 |
Indeed surely there is a future hope, and your hope will not be cut off.
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| 19 |
Listen, my son, and be wise, and keep your heart on the right path!
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| 20 |
Don’t be among ones drinking too much wine, or those who gorge themselves on meat;
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| 21 |
for the drunkard and the glutton shall become poor; and drowsiness clothes them in rags.
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| 22 |
Listen to your father who gave you life, and don’t despise your mother when she is old.
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| 23 |
Buy the truth, and don’t sell it. Get wisdom, discipline, and understanding.
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| 24 |
The father of the righteous has great joy. Whoever fathers a wise child delights in him.
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| 25 |
Let your father and your mother be glad! Let her who bore you rejoice!
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| 26 |
My son, give me your heart; and let your eyes keep in my ways.
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| 27 |
For a prostitute is a deep pit; and a wayward wife is a narrow well.
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| 28 |
Yes, she lies in wait like a robber, and increases the unfaithful among men.
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| 29 |
Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has strife? Who has complaints? Who has needless bruises? Who has bloodshot eyes?
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| 30 |
Those who stay long at the wine; those who go to seek out mixed wine.
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| 31 |
Don’t look at the wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup, when it goes down smoothly.
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| 32 |
In the end, it bites like a snake, and poisons like a viper.
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| 33 |
Your eyes will see strange things, and your mind will imagine confusing things.
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| 34 |
Yes, you will be as he who lies down in the middle of the sea, or as he who lies on top of the rigging:
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| 35 |
“They hit me, and I was not hurt! They beat me, and I don’t feel it! When will I wake up? I can do it again. I will look for more.”
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