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Proverbs 23 (CEV)

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¹ When you are invited to eat with a king, use your best manners. ² Don't go and stuff yourself! That would be just the same as cutting your throat. ³ Don't be greedy for all of that fancy food! It may not be so tasty. ⁴ Give up trying so hard to get rich. ⁵ Your money flies away before you know it, just like an eagle suddenly taking off. ⁶ Don't accept an invitation to eat a selfish person's food, no matter how good it is. ⁷ People like that take note of how much you eat. They say, "Take all you want!" But they don't mean it. ⁸ Each bite will come back up, and all your kind words will be wasted. ⁹ Don't talk to fools-- they will just make fun. ¹⁰ Don't move a boundary marker or take the land that belongs to orphans. ¹¹ God All-Powerful is there to defend them against you. ¹² Listen to instruction and do your best to learn. ¹³ Don't fail to correct your children. You won't kill them by being firm, ¹⁴ and it may even save their lives. ¹⁵ My children, if you show good sense, I will be happy, ¹⁶ and if you are truthful, I will really be glad. ¹⁷ Don't be jealous of sinners, but always honor the LORD. ¹⁸ Then you will truly have hope for the future. ¹⁹ Listen to me, my children! Be wise and have enough sense to follow the right path. ²⁰ Don't be a heavy drinker or stuff yourself with food. ²¹ It will make you feel drowsy, and you will end up poor with only rags to wear. ²² Pay attention to your father, and don't neglect your mother when she grows old. ²³ Invest in truth and wisdom, discipline and good sense, and don't part with them. ²⁴ Make your father truly happy by living right and showing sound judgment. ²⁵ Make your parents proud, especially your mother. ²⁶ My son, pay close attention, and gladly follow my example. ²⁷ Bad women and unfaithful wives are like a deep pit-- ²⁸ they are waiting to attack you like a gang of robbers with victim after victim. ²⁹ Who is always in trouble? Who argues and fights? Who has cuts and bruises? Whose eyes are red? ³⁰ Everyone who stays up late, having just one more drink. ³¹ Don't even look at that colorful stuff bubbling up in the glass! It goes down so easily, ³² but later it bites like a poisonous snake. ³³ You will see weird things, and your mind will play tricks on you. ³⁴ You will feel tossed about like someone trying to sleep on a ship in a storm. ³⁵ You will be bruised all over, without even remembering how it all happened. And you will lie awake asking, "When will morning come, so I can drink some more?"