23 When you sit down to dine with a ruler,
Consider carefully what is [set] before you;
² 
For you will put a knife to your throat
If you are a man of great appetite.
³ 
Do not desire his delicacies,
For it is deceptive food [offered to you with questionable motives].

⁶ 
He who sends a message by the hand of a fool
Cuts off his own feet (sabotages himself) and drinks the violence [it brings on himself as a consequence].^(A)

¹⁰ 
Like a [careless] archer who [shoots arrows wildly and] wounds everyone,
So is he who hires a fool or those who [by chance just] pass by.

²⁴ 
He who hates, disguises it with his lips,
But he stores up deceit in his heart.
²⁵ 
When he speaks graciously and kindly [to conceal his malice], do not trust him,
For seven abominations are in his heart.
²⁶ 
Though his hatred covers itself with guile and deceit,
His malevolence will be revealed openly before the assembly.
²⁷ 
Whoever digs a pit [for another man’s feet] will fall into it,
And he who rolls a stone [up a hill to do mischief], it will come back on him.^(A)
28 
A lying tongue hates those it wounds and crushes,
And a flattering mouth works ruin.

⁶ 
Faithful are the wounds of a friend [who corrects out of love and concern],
But the kisses of an enemy are deceitful [because they serve his hidden agenda].

⁵ 
A man who flatters his neighbor [with smooth words intending to do harm]
Is spreading a net for his own feet.