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consider carefully what is before you,
2 and put a knife to your throat
if you are given to gluttony.
3 Do not crave his delicacies,
for that food is deceptive.
4 Do not wear yourself out to get rich;
be wise enough to exercise restraint.
5 When you set your eyes on riches, they are gone;
suddenly they sprout wings
and soar off into the sky, like an eagle in flight.
6 Do not eat the food of a tight-fisted man,
or desire his delicacies,
7 for all he will be concerned about
is the cost of it.
“Eat and drink!” he will say to you,
but his heart will not be with you.
8 You will vomit up the little you have eaten,
and you will waste your pleasant words.
9 Do not speak in the hearing of a fool,
for he will only despise the wisdom of your words.
10 Do not move an ancient boundary stone,
or encroach on the fields of the fatherless,
11 for their Redeemer is mighty;
He will take up their case against you.
12 Apply your heart to instruction
and your ear to words of knowledge.
13 Do not withhold correction from a child;
if you chasten him with the rod, he will not die.
14 Punish him with the rod,
and you will save him from going down to Sheol.
15 My son, if your heart is wise,
then my heart will also be glad;
16 my inmost being will rejoice
when your lips say what is right.
17 Do not let your heart envy sinners,
but always be zealous for the fear of the Lord.
18 For then you will have a future,
and your hope will never be cut off.
19 Listen, my son, and be wise;
keep your heart on the right path.
20 Do not join with those who drink too much wine,
or with those who gorge themselves on meat,
21 for the drunkard and the glutton become reduced to poverty,
and the grogginess clothes them with rags.
22 Listen to your father who gave you life,
and do not despise your mother when she is old.
23 Buy the truth, and do not sell it,
and learn wisdom, instruction, and understanding.
24 The father of a righteous son has great joy;
he who has fathered a wise son delights in him.
25 May your father and your mother be glad;
may she who gave birth to you rejoice.
26 My son, give me your heart,
and let your eyes observe my ways.
27 For a prostitute is a deep pit,
and a forbidden woman is a narrow well.
28 She lies in wait like a robber,
and multiplies the unfaithful among men.
29 Who has woe? Who has sorrow?
Who has strife? Who has complaints?
Who has wounds for no reason?
Who has redness of eyes?
30 Those who are hooked and linger over wine,
who go looking for multiple varieties of wine.
31 Do not gaze at wine when it is red,
when it sparkles in the cup,
when it goes down smoothly.
32 In the end it bites like a snake
and poisons like a viper.
33 Your eyes will see strange things,
and you will be slurring out ridiculous words.
34 You will be like someone sleeping out on the high seas,
or like someone lying down at the top of the ship’s mast.
35 “They struck me,” you will say, “but I am not hurt!
They beat me, but I didn’t feel it!
When will I wake up,
so I can have another drink?”