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21 
For the heavy drinker and the glutton will come to poverty,
And the drowsiness [of overindulgence] will clothe one with rags.

22 
Listen to your father, who sired you,
And do not despise your mother when she is old.
23 
[a]Buy truth, and do not sell it;
Get wisdom and instruction and understanding.

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 23:23 The ancient rabbis routinely assumed “truth” to refer to the Torah (Law), and they interpreted the first part of this command to mean that a student should pay a teacher to teach him the Torah if he can find no one to teach him for free. As for the second part, they said that if the student had to pay to learn, he should not view this as grounds to charge for teaching others, but should teach the Torah for free.

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