²²Listen to your father, who gave you life,and don’t despise your mother when she is old.
²³Get the truth and never sell it;also get wisdom, discipline, and good judgment.
²⁴The father of godly children has cause for joy.What a pleasure to have children who are wise.#23:24 Hebrew to have a wise son.
²⁵So give your father and mother joy!May she who gave you birth be happy.
²⁶O my son, give me your heart.May your eyes take delight in following my ways.
²⁷A prostitute is a dangerous trap;a promiscuous woman is as dangerous as falling into a narrow well.
²⁸She hides and waits like a robber,eager to make more men unfaithful.
²⁹Who has anguish? Who has sorrow?Who is always fighting? Who is always complaining?Who has unnecessary bruises? Who has bloodshot eyes?
³⁰It is the one who spends long hours in the taverns,trying out new drinks.
³¹Don’t gaze at the wine, seeing how red it is,how it sparkles in the cup, how smoothly it goes down.
³²For in the end it bites like a poisonous snake;it stings like a viper.
³³You will see hallucinations,and you will say crazy things.
³⁴You will stagger like a sailor tossed at sea,clinging to a swaying mast.
³⁵And you will say, “They hit me, but I didn’t feel it.I didn’t even know it when they beat me up.When will I wake upso I can look for another drink?”