  THE PROVERBS OF SOLOMON
  -----------------------
  
  23:1  When thou sittest to eat with a ruler, consider diligently what 
        [is] before thee:

  23:2  And put a knife to thy throat, if thou [be] a man given to 
        appetite.

  23:3  Be not desirous of his dainties: for they [are] deceitful meat.

  23:4  Labour not to be rich: cease from thine own wisdom.

  23:5  Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not? for [riches] 
        certainly make themselves wings; they fly away as an eagle toward 
        heaven.

  23:6  Eat thou not the bread of [him that hath] an evil eye, neither 
        desire thou his dainty meats:

  23:7  For as he thinketh in his heart, so [is] he: Eat and drink, 
        saith he to thee; but his heart [is] not with thee.

  23:8  The morsel [which] thou hast eaten shalt thou vomit up, and 
        lose thy sweet words.

  23:9  Speak not in the ears of a fool: for he will despise the 
        wisdom of thy words.

  23:10  Remove not the old landmark; and enter not into the fields 
         of the fatherless:

  23:11  For their redeemer [is] mighty; he shall plead their cause 
         with thee.

  23:12  Apply thine heart unto instruction, and thine ears to the 
         words of knowledge.

  23:13  Withhold not correction from the child: for [if] thou beatest 
         him with the rod, he shall not die.

  23:14  Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul 
         from hell.

  23:15  My son, if thine heart be wise, my heart shall rejoice, 
         even mine.

  23:16  Yea, my reins shall rejoice, when thy lips speak right things.

  23:17  Let not thine heart envy sinners: but [be thou] in the fear 
         of the LORD all the day long.

  23:18  For surely there is an end; and thine expectation shall not be 
         cut off.

  23:19  Hear thou, my son, and be wise, and guide thine heart in 
         the way.

  23:20  Be not among winebibbers; among riotous eaters of flesh:

  23:21  For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty: and 
         drowsiness shall clothe [a man] with rags.

  23:22  Hearken unto thy father that begat thee, and despise not thy 
         mother when she is old.

  23:23  Buy the truth, and sell [it] not; [also] wisdom, and 
         instruction, and understanding.

  23:24  The father of the righteous shall greatly rejoice: and he that 
         begetteth a wise [child] shall have joy of him.

  23:25  Thy father and thy mother shall be glad, and she that bare thee 
         shall rejoice.

  23:26  My son, give me thine heart, and let thine eyes observe my ways.

  23:27  For a whore [is] a deep ditch; and a strange woman [is] a 
         narrow pit.

  23:28  She also lieth in wait as [for] a prey, and increaseth the 
         transgressors among men.

  23:29  Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who hath 
         babbling? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of 
         eyes?

  23:30  They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed 
         wine.

  23:31  Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth 
         his colour in the cup, [when] it moveth itself aright.

  23:32  At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an 
         adder.

  23:33  Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thine heart shall 
         utter perverse things.

  23:34  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.

  23:35  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.



