Proverbs 23:19-32

¹⁹Hear, my son, and be wise, and rightly direct the thoughts of thine heart.

²⁰Be not a wine-bibber, neither continue long at feasts, and purchases of flesh:

²¹for every drunkard and whoremonger shall be poor; and every sluggard shall clothe himself with tatters and ragged garments.

²²Hearken, my son, to thy father which begot thee, and despise not thy mother because she is grown old.

²⁴A righteous father brings up his children well; and his soul rejoices over a wise son.

²⁵Let thy father and thy mother rejoice over thee, and let her that bore thee be glad.

²⁶My son, give me thine heart, and let thine eyes observe my ways.

²⁷For a strange house is a vessel full of holes; and a strange well is narrow.

²⁸For such a one shall perish suddenly; and every transgressor shall be cut off.

²⁹Who has woe? who trouble? who has quarrels? and who vexations and disputes? who has bruises without a cause? whose eyes are livid?

³⁰Are not those of them that stay long at wine? are not those of them that haunt the places where banquets are? Be not drunk with wine; but converse with just men, and converse with them openly.

³¹For if thou shouldest set thine eyes on bowls and cups, thou shalt afterwards go more naked than a pestle.

³²But at last such a one stretches himself out as one smitten by a serpent, and venom is diffused through him as by a horned serpent.