23:20. Be not in the feasts of great drinkers, nor in their revellings, who contribute flesh to eat:
23:21. Because they that give themselves to drinking, and that club together, shall be consumed: and drowsiness shall be clothed with rags.
23:22. Hearken to thy father, that begot thee: and despise not thy mother when she is old.
23:23. Buy truth, and do not sell wisdom, and instruction, and understanding.
23:24. The father of the just rejoiceth greatly: he that hath begotten a wise son, shall have joy in him.
23:25. Let thy father and thy mother be joyful, and let her rejoice that bore thee.
23:26. My son, give me thy heart: and let thy eyes keep my ways.
23:27. For a harlot is a deep ditch: and a strange woman is a narrow pit.
23:28. She lieth in wait in the way as a robber, and him whom she shall see unwary, she will kill.
23:29. Who hath woe? whose father hath woe? who hath contentions? who falls into pits? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes?
23:30. Surely they that pass their time in wine, and study to drink off their cups.
23:31. Look not upon the wine when it is yellow, when the colour thereof shineth in the glass: it goeth in pleasantly,
23:32. But in the end, it will bite like a snake, and will spread abroad poison like a basilisk.
23:33. Thy eyes shall behold strange women, and thy heart shall utter perverse things.
23:34. And thou shalt be as one sleeping in the midst of the sea, and as a pilot fast asleep when the stern is lost.
23:35. And thou shalt say: They have beaten me, but I was not sensible of pain: they drew me, and I felt not: when shall I awake and find wine again?
Proverbs Chapter 24
24:1. Seek not to be like evil men, neither desire to be with them:
24:2. Because their mind studieth robberies, and their lips speak deceits.
24:3. By wisdom the house shall be built, and by prudence it shall be strengthened.
24:4. By instruction the storerooms shall be filled with all precious and most beautiful wealth.
24:5. A wise man is strong: and a knowing man, stout and valiant.
24:6. Because war is managed by due ordering: and there shall be safety where there are many counsels.
24:7. Wisdom is too high for a fool; in the gate he shall not open his mouth.
24:8. He that deviseth to do evils, shall be called a fool.
24:9. The thought of a fool is sin: and the detractor is the abomination of men.
24:10. If thou lose hope, being weary in the day of distress, thy strength shall be diminished.
24:11. Deliver them that are led to death: and those that are drawn to death, forbear not to deliver.
The Bible, Douay-Rheims, Old Testament — Part 2 · The Wunder Library — complete classics, free to read, with narration.