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PROVERBS
23.16

20Have not I written unto thee excellent things
Of counsels and knowledge;
21That I might make thee know the certainty of the words of truth,
That thou mightest bring back words of truth to them that send thee?
22Rob not the weak, because he is weak,
Neither crush the poor in the gate;
23For the Lord will plead their cause,
And despoil of life those that despoil them.
24Make no friendship with a man that is given to anger;
And with a wrathful man thou shalt not go;
25Lest thou learn his ways,
And get a snare to thy soul.
26Be thou not of them that strike hands,
Or of them that are sureties for debts;
27If thou hast not wherewith to pay,
Why should he take away thy bed from under thee?
28Remove not the ancient landmark,
Which thy fathers have set.
29Seest thou a man diligent in his business? he shall stand before kings;
He shall not stand before mean men.


23 When thou sittest to eat with a ruler,
Consider well him that is before thee;
2And put a knife to thy throat,
If thou be a man given to appetite.
3Be not desirous of his dainties;
Seeing they are deceitful food.
4Weary not thyself to be rich;
Cease from thine own wisdom. 5Wilt thou set thine eyes upon it? it is gone;
For riches certainly make themselves wings,
Like an eagle that flieth toward heaven.
6Eat thou not the bread of him that hath an evil eye,
Neither desire thou his dainties;
7For as one that hath reckoned within himself, so is he:
'Eat and drink', saith he to thee;
But his heart is not with thee.
8The morsel which thou hast eaten shalt thou vomit up,
And lose thy sweet words.
9Speak not in the ears of a fool;
For he will despise the wisdom of thy words.
10Remove not the ancient landmark;
And enter not into the fields of the fatherless;
11For their Redeemer is strong;
He will plead their cause with thee.
12Apply thy heart unto instruction,
And thine ears to the words of knowledge.
13Withhold not correction from the child;
For though thou beat him with the rod, he will not die.
14Thou beatest him with the rod,
And wilt deliver his soul from the nether-world.
15My son, if thy heart be wise,
My heart will be glad, even mine;
16Yea, my reins will rejoice,
When thy lips speak right things.

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