79 lines
2.9 KiB
Markdown
79 lines
2.9 KiB
Markdown
# Chapter 23
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1 When you sit down to eat with a ruler,
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Consider carefully what is before you;
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2 And put a knife to your throat
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If you are a man given to appetite.
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3 Do not desire his delicacies,
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For they are deceptive food.
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4 Do not overwork to be rich;
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Because of your own understanding, cease!
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5 Will you set your eyes on that which is not?
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For riches certainly make themselves wings;
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They fly away like an eagle toward heaven.
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6 Do not eat the bread of a miser,
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Nor desire his delicacies;
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7 For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.
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“Eat and drink!” he says to you,
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But his heart is not with you.
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8 The morsel you have eaten, you will vomit up,
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And waste your pleasant words.
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9 Do not speak in the hearing of a fool,
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For he will despise the wisdom of your words.
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10 Do not remove the ancient landmark,
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Nor enter the fields of the fatherless;
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11 For their Redeemer is mighty;
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He will plead their cause against you.
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12 Apply your heart to instruction,
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And your ears to words of knowledge.
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13 Do not withhold correction from a child,
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For if you beat him with a rod, he will not die.
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14 You shall beat him with a rod,
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And deliver his soul from hell.
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15 My son, if your heart is wise,
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My heart will rejoice—indeed, I myself;
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16 Yes, my inmost being will rejoice
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When your lips speak right things.
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17 Do not let your heart envy sinners,
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But be zealous for the fear of the Lord all the day;
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18 For surely there is a hereafter,
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And your hope will not be cut off.
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19 Hear, my son, and be wise;
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And guide your heart in the way.
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20 Do not mix with winebibbers,
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Or with gluttonous eaters of meat;
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21 For the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty,
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And drowsiness will clothe a man with rags.
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22 Listen to your father who begot you,
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And do not despise your mother when she is old.
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23 Buy the truth, and do not sell it,
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Also wisdom and instruction and understanding.
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24 The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice,
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And he who begets a wise child will delight in him.
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25 Let your father and your mother be glad,
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And let her who bore you rejoice.
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26 My son, give me your heart,
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And let your eyes observe my ways.
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27 For a harlot is a deep pit,
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And a seductress is a narrow well.
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28 She also lies in wait as for a victim,
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And increases the unfaithful among men.
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29 Who has woe?
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Who has sorrow?
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Who has contentions?
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Who has complaints?
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Who has wounds without cause?
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Who has redness of eyes?
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30 Those who linger long at the wine,
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Those who go in search of mixed wine.
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31 Do not look on the wine when it is red,
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When it sparkles in the cup,
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When it swirls around smoothly;
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32 At the last it bites like a serpent,
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And stings like a viper.
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33 Your eyes will see strange things,
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And your heart will utter perverse things.
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34 Yes, you will be like one who lies down in the midst of the sea,
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Or like one who lies at the top of the mast, saying:
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35 “They have struck me, but I was not hurt;
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They have beaten me, but I did not feel it.
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When shall I awake, that I may seek another drink?” |