Chapter 23

  When you take your seat at the feast with a ruler, give thought with care to what is before you;  

  And put a knife to your throat, if you have a strong desire for food.  

  Have no desire for his delicate food, for it is the bread of deceit.  

  Take no care to get wealth; let there be an end to your desire for money.  

  Are your eyes lifted up to it? it is gone: for wealth takes to itself wings, like an eagle in flight up to heaven.  

  Do not take the food of him who has an evil eye, or have any desire for his delicate meat:  

  For as the thoughts of his heart are, so is he: Take food and drink, he says to you; but his heart is not with you.  

  The food which you have taken will come up again, and your pleasing words will be wasted.  

  Say nothing in the hearing of a foolish man, for he will put no value on the wisdom of your words.  

  Do not let the landmark of the widow be moved, and do not go into the fields of those who have no father;  

  For their saviour is strong, and he will take up their cause against you.  

  Give your heart to teaching, and your ears to the words of knowledge.  

  Do not keep back training from the child: for even if you give him blows with the rod, it will not be death to him.  

  Give him blows with the rod, and keep his soul safe from the underworld.  

  My son, if your heart becomes wise, I, even I, will be glad in heart;  

  And my thoughts in me will be full of joy when your lips say right things.  

  Have no envy of sinners in your heart, but keep in the fear of the Lord all through the day;  

  For without doubt there is a future, and your hope will not be cut off.  

  Give ear, my son, and be wise, guiding your heart in the right way.  

  Do not be among those who give themselves to wine-drinking, or among those who make themselves full with meat:  

  For those who take delight in drink and feasting will come to be in need; and through love of sleep a man will be poorly clothed.  

  Give ear to your father whose child you are, and do not keep honour from your mother when she is old.  

  Get for yourself that which is true, and do not let it go for money; get wisdom and teaching and good sense.  

  The father of the upright man will be glad, and he who has a wise child will have joy because of him.  

  Let your father and your mother be glad, let her who gave you birth have joy.  

  My son, give me your heart, and let your eyes take delight in my ways.  

  For a loose woman is a deep hollow, and a strange woman is a narrow water-hole.  

  Yes, she is waiting secretly like a beast for its food, and deceit by her is increased among men.  

  Who says, Oh! who says, Ah! who has violent arguments, who has grief, who has wounds without cause, whose eyes are dark?  

  Those who are seated late over the wine: those who go looking for mixed wine.  

  Keep your eyes from looking on the wine when it is red, when its colour is bright in the cup, when it goes smoothly down:  

  In the end, its bite is like that of a snake, its wound like the wound of a poison-snake.  

  Your eyes will see strange things, and you will say twisted things.  

  Yes, you will be like him who takes his rest on the sea, or on the top of a sail-support.  

  They have overcome me, you will say, and I have no pain; they gave me blows without my feeling them: when will I be awake from my wine? I will go after it again.