23 When you sit down to eat with a ruler,
    observe carefully what[a] is before you,
and put a knife to your throat
    if you are given to appetite.
(A)Do not desire his delicacies,
    for they are deceptive food.

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 23:1 Or who

(A)Do not eat the bread of a man who is (B)stingy;[a]
    (C)do not desire his delicacies,
for he is like one who is inwardly calculating.[b]
    “Eat and drink!” he says to you,
    but his (D)heart is not with you.
You will vomit up the morsels that you have eaten,
    and waste your pleasant words.
Do not speak in the hearing of a fool,
    for he will despise the good sense of your words.

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 23:6 Hebrew whose eye is evil
  2. Proverbs 23:7 Or for as he calculates in his soul, so is he

Whoever sends a message by the hand of a fool
    cuts off his own feet and (A)drinks violence.

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10 Like an archer who wounds everyone
    is one who hires a passing fool or drunkard.[a]

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 26:10 Or hires a fool or passersby

24 Whoever hates disguises himself with his lips
    and harbors deceit in his heart;
25 (A)when he speaks graciously, believe him not,
    for there are (B)seven abominations in his heart;
26 though his hatred be covered with deception,
    his wickedness will be exposed in the assembly.
27 (C)Whoever digs a pit will fall into it,
    and a stone will come back on him who starts it rolling.
28 A lying tongue hates its victims,
    and a flattering mouth works ruin.

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Faithful are (A)the wounds of a friend;
    profuse are the kisses of an enemy.

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(A)A man who flatters his neighbor
    spreads (B)a net for his feet.

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