1: When thou sittest to eat with a ruler, consider diligently
what is before thee: |
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2: And put a knife to thy throat, if thou be a man given to
appetite. |
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3:
Be not desirous of his dainties: for they are deceitful meat.
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4: Labour not to be rich: cease from thine own wisdom.
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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. |
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6: Eat thou not the bread of him that hath an evil eye, neither
desire thou his dainty meats: |
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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. |
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8: The morsel which thou hast eaten shalt thou vomit up, and lose
thy sweet words. |
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9: Speak not in the ears of a fool: for he will despise the
wisdom of thy words. |
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10: Remove not the old landmark; and enter not into the fields of
the fatherless: |
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11: For their redeemer is mighty; he shall plead their cause with
thee. |
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12: Apply thine heart unto instruction, and thine ears to the
words of knowledge. |
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13: Withhold not correction from the child: for if thou beatest
him with the rod, he shall not die. |
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14: Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul
from hell. |
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15: My son, if thine heart be wise, my heart shall rejoice, even
mine. |
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16: Yea, my reins shall rejoice, when thy lips speak right
things. |
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17: Let not thine heart envy sinners: but be thou in the fear of
the LORD all the day long. |
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18: For surely there is an end; and thine expectation shall not
be cut off. |
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19: Hear thou, my son, and be wise, and guide thine heart in the
way. |
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20: Be not among winebibbers; among riotous eaters of flesh:
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21: For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty: and
drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags. |
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22: Hearken unto thy father that begat thee, and despise not thy
mother when she is old. |
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23: Buy the truth, and sell it not; also wisdom, and instruction,
and understanding. |
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24: The father of the righteous shall greatly rejoice: and he
that begetteth a wise child shall have joy of him. |
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25: Thy father and thy mother shall be glad, and she that bare
thee shall rejoice. |
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26: My son, give me thine heart, and let thine eyes observe my
ways. |
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27: For a whore is a deep ditch; and a strange woman is a narrow
pit. |
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28: She also lieth in wait as for a prey, and increaseth the
transgressors among men. |
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29: Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who hath
babbling? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes? |
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30: They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed
wine. |
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31: Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth
his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright. |
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32: At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an
adder. |
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33: ine eyes shall behold strange women, and thine heart shall
utter perverse things. |
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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. |
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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. |