23:1 When you sit down to eat with a ruler,
consider carefully 1 what 2 is before you,
23:2 and put a knife to your throat 3
if you possess a large appetite. 4
23:3 Do not crave that ruler’s 5 delicacies,
for 6 that food is deceptive. 7
23:20 Do not spend time 8 among drunkards, 9
among those who eat too much 10 meat,
23:21 because drunkards and gluttons become impoverished,
and drowsiness 11 clothes them with rags. 12
23:29 Who has woe? 13 Who has sorrow?
Who has contentions? Who has complaints?
Who has wounds without cause? Who has dullness 14 of the eyes?
23:30 Those who linger over wine,
those who go looking for mixed wine. 15
23:31 Do not look on the wine when it is red,
when it sparkles 16 in the cup,
when it goes down smoothly. 17
23:32 Afterward 18 it bites like a snake,
and stings like a viper.
23:33 Your eyes will see strange things, 19
and your mind will speak perverse things.
23:34 And you will be like one who lies down in the midst 20 of the sea,
and like one who lies down on the top of the rigging. 21
23:35 You will say, 22 “They have struck me, but I am not harmed!
They beat me, but I did not know it! 23
When will I awake? I will look for another drink.” 24