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do not spend your time with women—the royal pathway to destruction.

And it is not for kings, O Lemuel, to drink wine and whiskey. For if they drink, they may forget their duties and be unable to give justice to those who are oppressed.

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Do not spend your strength[a] on women,
    your vigor on those who ruin kings.(A)

It is not for kings, Lemuel—
    it is not for kings to drink wine,(B)
    not for rulers to crave beer,
lest they drink(C) and forget what has been decreed,(D)
    and deprive all the oppressed of their rights.

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 31:3 Or wealth