23 When you sit down to eat with a ruler,
    observe carefully what^[a] is before you,
² and put a knife to your throat
    if you are given to appetite.
^3 (A)Do not desire his delicacies,
    for they are deceptive food.

²¹ My son, ^(A)fear the Lord and the king,
    and do not join with those who do otherwise,
²² for disaster will arise suddenly from them,
    and who knows the ruin that will come from them both?

² It is the glory of God to ^(A)conceal things,
    but the glory of kings is to ^(B)search things out.
³ As the heavens for height, and the earth for depth,
    so the heart of kings is ^(C)unsearchable.
⁴ Take away ^(D)the dross from the silver,
    and ^(E)the smith has material for a vessel;
⁵ take away ^(F)the wicked from the presence of the king,
    and his ^(G)throne will be established in righteousness.
⁶ Do not put yourself forward in the king's presence
    or stand in the place of the great,
⁷ for ^(H)it is better to be told, “Come up here,”
    than to be put lower in the presence of a noble.

What your eyes have seen

¹⁵ With ^(A)patience a ruler may be persuaded,
    and a soft tongue will break a bone.