When thou sittest to eat with a ruler,{HR}Consider well who is before thee,
And put a knife to thy throat,{HR}If thou [be] a man given to appetite.
Be not desirous of his dainties;{HR}For they [are] deceitful food.
Weary not thyself to become rich;{HR}Cease from thine own intelligence.
Wilt thou set thine eyes upon what is not?{HR}For indeed it maketh itself wings, and it flieth away,{HR}As an eagle toward the heavens.
Eat thou not the meat of [him that hath] an evil eye,{HR}Nor desire his dainties.
For as he thinketh in his soul, so [is] he.{HR}Eat and drink, saith he to thee;{HR}But his heart [is] not with thee.
The morsel thou hast eaten thou shalt vomit up,{HR}And waste thy sweet words.
Speak not in the ears of a fool,{HR}For he will despise the wisdom of thy words.
Remove not the ancient landmark,{HR}And enter not into the fields of the fatherless;
For their redeemer [is] strong;{HR}He will plead their cause against thee.
Apply thy heart unto instruction,{HR}And thy ears to the words of knowledge.
Withhold not correction from the child:{HR}If thou beat him with the rod, he shall not die;
Thou shalt beat him with the rod,{HR}And shalt deliver his soul from Sheol.
My son, if thy heart be wise,{HR}My heart shall rejoice, even mine;
And my reins shall exult,{HR}When thy lips speak right things.
Let not thy heart envy sinners;{HR}But [be thou] in the fear of Jehovah all the day;
For surely there is a [latter] end,{HR}And thy hope shall not be cut off.
Thou, my son, hear and be wise,{HR}And direct thy heart in the way.
Be not among wine-bibbers,{HR}Among gluttonous eaters of flesh.
For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty,{HR}And drowsiness shall clothe with rags.
Hearken unto thy father that begot thee,{HR}And despise not thy mother when she is old.
Buy the truth, and sell [it] not—{HR}Wisdom and instruction and understanding.
The father of the righteous one shall greatly rejoice,{HR}And he that begetteth a wise [child] shall have joy of him.
Let thy father and thy mother be glad,{HR}And let her that bore thee rejoice.
My son give me thy heart,{HR}And let thine eyes observe my ways.
For a whore [is] a deep ditch;{HR}And a strange woman [is] a narrow pit;
She also lieth in wait as a robber,{HR}And increaseth the treacherous among men.
Who hath woe? Who hath sorrow?{HR}Who hath contentions? Who hath complaining?{HR}Who hath wounds without cause? Who hath redness of eyes?
They that tarry long at the wine;{HR}They that go to try mixed wine.
Look not thou upon the wine when it is red,{HR}When it sparkleth in the cup,{HR}When it goeth down smoothly.
At the last it biteth like a serpent,{HR}And stingeth like an adder.
Thine eyes shall behold strange women,{HR}And thy heart shall utter froward things.
Yea, thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea,{HR}And as he that lieth down on the top of a mast.
They have smitten me [thou wilt say], I am not sore;{HR}They have beaten me, I felt not:{HR}When shall I awake? I will seek it yet again.