23:1 When you sit down to eat with a ruler, consider carefully what is before you,

23:2 and put a knife to your throat if you possess a large appetite.

23:3 Do not crave that ruler’s delicacies, for that food is deceptive.

• Refer to 1 Samuel 18:22–23 :: Saul tries to entrap David with his daughter

23:4 Do not wear yourself out to become rich; be wise enough to restrain yourself.

23:5 When you gaze upon riches, they are gone, for they surely make wings for themselves, and fly off into the sky like an eagle!

• Refer to Poor or Rich

23:6 Do not eat the food of a stingy person, do not crave his delicacies;

23:7 for he is like someone calculating the cost in his mind. “Eat and drink,” he says to you, but his heart is not with you;

23:8 you will vomit up the little bit you have eaten, and will have wasted your pleasant words.

23:9 Do not speak in the ears of a fool, for he will despise the wisdom of your words.

• Refer to Answer Foolishness

23:10 Do not move an ancient boundary stone, or take over the fields of the fatherless,

23:11 for their Protector is strong; he will plead their case against you.

• Refer to Communal Societal Obligations
• Refer to Don’t Move the Ancient Boundary

23:12 Apply your heart to instruction and your ears to the words of knowledge.

23:13 Do not withhold discipline from a child; even if you strike him with the rod, he will not die.

23:14 If you strike him with the rod, you will deliver his life from death.

23:15 My child, if your heart is wise, then my heart also will be glad;