1
When you sit down to eat with a ruler,
observe carefully what 1 is before you,
2
and put a knife to your throat
if you are given to appetite.
3
c Do not desire his delicacies,
for they are deceptive food.
4
d Do not toil to acquire wealth;
e be discerning enough to desist.
5
When your eyes light on it, it is gone,
f for suddenly it sprouts wings,
flying like an eagle toward heaven.
6
g Do not eat the bread of a man who is h stingy; 2
i do not desire his delicacies,
7
for he is like one who is inwardly calculating. 3
"Eat and drink!" he says to you,
but his j heart is not with you.
8
You will vomit up the morsels that you have eaten,
and waste your pleasant words.
9
Do not speak in the hearing of a fool,
for he will despise the good sense of your words.
10
k Do not move an ancient landmark
or enter the fields of the fatherless,
11
for their l Redeemer is strong;
he will m plead their cause against you.
12
Apply your heart to instruction
and your ear to words of knowledge.
13
Do not withhold n discipline from a child;
o if you strike him with a rod, he will not die.
14
If you strike him with the rod,
you will p save his soul from Sheol.
15
q My son, if your heart is wise,
my heart too will be glad.
16
My r inmost being 4 will exult
when your lips speak s what is right.
17
Let not your heart t envy sinners,
but continue in u the fear of the Lord all the day.
18
Surely v there is a future,
and your w hope will not be cut off.
19
Hear, my son, and x be wise,
and y direct your heart in the way.
20
Be not among z drunkards 5
or among a gluttonous eaters of meat,
21
for the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty,
and b slumber will clothe them with rags.
22
c Listen to your father who gave you life,
d and do not despise your mother when she is old.
23
e Buy truth, and do not sell it;
buy wisdom, instruction, and understanding.
24
f The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice;
he who fathers a wise son will be glad in him.
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f Let your father and mother be glad;
let g her who bore you rejoice.
26
My son, give me your heart,
and let your eyes observe 6 my ways.
27
For a prostitute is h a deep pit;
i an adulteress 7 is a narrow j well.
28
k She lies in wait like a robber
and increases the traitors among mankind.
29
l Who has woe? Who has sorrow?
Who has strife? Who has complaining?
Who has m wounds without cause?
Who has n redness of eyes?
30
Those who o tarry long over wine;
those who go to try p mixed wine.
31
Do not look at wine when it is red,
when it sparkles in the cup
and goes down smoothly.
32
In the end it q bites like a serpent
and stings like an adder.
33
Your eyes will see strange things,
and your heart utter r perverse things.
34
You will be like one who lies down in the midst of the sea,
like one who lies on the top of a mast. 8
35
"They s struck me," you will say, 9 "but I was not hurt;
they beat me, but I did not feel it.
When shall I awake?
I t must have another drink."