When you sit down to dine with a ruler, Consider carefully 1what is before you,
2And put a knife to your throat If you are a aman of great appetite.
3Do not adesire his delicacies, For it is deceptive food.
4aDo not weary yourself to gain wealth, bCease from your 1consideration of it.
51When you set your eyes on it, it is gone. For awealth certainly makes itself wings Like an eagle that flies toward the heavens.
6aDo not eat the bread of 1a bselfish man, Or desire his delicacies;
7For as he 1thinks within himself, so he is. He says to you, "Eat and drink!" But ahis heart is not with you.
8You will avomit up 1the morsel you have eaten, And waste your 2compliments.
9aDo not speak in the 1hearing of a fool, For he will bdespise the wisdom of your words.
10Do not move the ancient boundary Or ago into the fields of the fatherless,
11For their aRedeemer is strong; bHe will plead their case against you.
12Apply your heart to discipline And your ears to words of knowledge.
13aDo not hold back discipline from the child, Although you 1strike him with the rod, he will not die.
14You shall 1strike him with the rod And arescue his soul from Sheol.
15My son, if your heart is awise, My own heart also will be glad;
16And my 1inmost being will rejoice When your lips speak awhat is right.
17aDo not let your heart envy sinners, But live in the 1 bfear of the LORD 2always.
18Surely there is a 1 afuture, And your bhope will not be cut off.
19Listen, my son, and abe wise, And bdirect your heart in the way.
20Do not be with aheavy drinkers of wine, Or with bgluttonous eaters of meat;
21For the aheavy drinker and the glutton will come to poverty, And bdrowsiness will clothe one with rags.
22aListen to your father who begot you, And bdo not despise your mother when she is old.
23aBuy truth, and do not sell it, Get wisdom and instruction and understanding.
24The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice, And ahe who sires a wise son will be glad in him.
25Let your afather and your mother be glad, And let her rejoice who gave birth to you.
26aGive me your heart, my son, And let your eyes 1 bdelight in my ways.
27For a harlot is a adeep pit And an 1 badulterous woman is a narrow well.
28Surely she alurks as a robber, And increases the 1faithless among men.
29Who has awoe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has complaining? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes?
30Those who alinger long over wine, Those who go to 1taste bmixed wine.
31Do not look on the wine when it is red, When it 1sparkles in the cup, When it agoes down smoothly;
32At the last it abites like a serpent And stings like a bviper.
33Your eyes will see strange things And your 1mind will autter perverse things.
34And you will be like one who lies down in the 1middle of the sea, Or like one who lies down on the top of a 2mast.
35"They astruck me, but I did not become 1ill; They beat me, but I did not know it. When shall I awake? I will bseek 2another drink."