1 W hen you sit down to eat with a ruler, Consider carefully what is before you;

2 A nd put a knife to your throat If you are a man given to appetite.

3 D o not desire his delicacies, For they are deceptive food.

4 D o not overwork to be rich; Because of your own understanding, cease!

5 W ill you set your eyes on that which is not? For riches certainly make themselves wings; They fly away like an eagle toward heaven.

6 D o not eat the bread of a miser, Nor desire his delicacies;

7 F or as he thinks in his heart, so is he. “Eat and drink!” he says to you, But his heart is not with you.

8 T he morsel you have eaten, you will vomit up, And waste your pleasant words.

9 D o not speak in the hearing of a fool, For he will despise the wisdom of your words.

10 D o not remove the ancient landmark, Nor enter the fields of the fatherless;

11 F or their Redeemer is mighty; He will plead their cause against you.

12 A pply your heart to instruction, And your ears to words of knowledge.

13 D o not withhold correction from a child, For if you beat him with a rod, he will not die.

14 Y ou shall beat him with a rod, And deliver his soul from hell.

15 M y son, if your heart is wise, My heart will rejoice—indeed, I myself;

16 Y es, my inmost being will rejoice When your lips speak right things.

17 D o not let your heart envy sinners, But be zealous for the fear of the Lord all the day;

18 F or surely there is a hereafter, And your hope will not be cut off.

19 H ear, my son, and be wise; And guide your heart in the way.

20 D o not mix with winebibbers, Or with gluttonous eaters of meat;

21 F or the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty, And drowsiness will clothe a man with rags.

22 L isten to your father who begot you, And do not despise your mother when she is old.

23 B uy the truth, and do not sell it, Also wisdom and instruction and understanding.

24 T he father of the righteous will greatly rejoice, And he who begets a wise child will delight in him.

25 L et your father and your mother be glad, And let her who bore you rejoice.

26 M y son, give me your heart, And let your eyes observe my ways.

27 F or a harlot is a deep pit, And a seductress is a narrow well.

28 S he also lies in wait as for a victim, And increases the unfaithful among men.

29 W ho has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has complaints? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes?

30 T hose who linger long at the wine, Those who go in search of mixed wine.

31 D o not look on the wine when it is red, When it sparkles in the cup, When it swirls around smoothly;

32 A t the last it bites like a serpent, And stings like a viper.

33 Y our eyes will see strange things, And your heart will utter perverse things.

34 Y es, you will be like one who lies down in the midst of the sea, Or like one who lies at the top of the mast, saying:

35 “ They have struck me, but I was not hurt; They have beaten me, but I did not feel it. When shall I awake, that I may seek another drink? ”