[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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Author: George M. Lamsa
Source: studybible.info
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