1 When you sit down to eat with a ruler, observe carefully whata is before you,
2 and put a knife to your throat if you are given to appetite.
3 1Do not desire his delicacies, for they are deceptive food.
4 2Do not toil to acquire wealth; 3be discerning enough to desist.
5 When your eyes light on it, it is gone, 4for suddenly it sprouts wings, flying like an eagle toward heaven.
6 5Do not eat the bread of a man who is 6stingy;b 7do not desire his delicacies,
7 for he is like one who is inwardly calculating.c "Eat and drink!" he says to you, but his 8heart 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 9Do not move an ancient landmark or enter the fields of the fatherless,
11 for their 10Redeemer is strong; he will 11plead their cause against you.
12 Apply your heart to instruction and your ear to words of knowledge.
13 Do not withhold 12discipline from a child; 13if you strike him with a rod, he will not die.
14 If you strike him with the rod, you will 14save his soul from Sheol.
15 15My son, if your heart is wise, my heart too will be glad.
16 My 16inmost beingd will exult when your lips speak 17what is right.
17 Let not your heart 18envy sinners, but continue in 19the fear of the LORD all the day.
18 Surely 20there is a future, and your 21hope will not be cut off.
19 Hear, my son, and 22be wise, and 23direct your heart in the way.
20 Be not among 24drunkardse or among 25gluttonous eaters of meat,
21 for the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty, and 26slumber will clothe them with rags
22 27Listen to your father who gave you life, 28and do not despise your mother when she is old.
23 29Buy truth, and do not sell it; buy wisdom, instruction, and understanding.
24 30The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice; he who fathers a wise son will be glad in him.
25 31Let your father and mother be glad; let 32her who bore you rejoice.
26 My son, give me your heart, and let your eyes observef my ways.
27 For a prostitute is 33a deep pit; 34an adulteressg is a narrow 35well.
28 36She lies in wait like a robber and increases the traitors among mankind.
29 37Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has strife? Who has complaining? Who has 38wounds without cause? Who has 39redness of eyes?
30 Those who 40tarry long over wine; those who go to try 41mixed 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 42bites like a serpent and stings like an adder.
33 Your eyes will see strange things, and your heart utter 43perverse 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.h
35 "They 44struck me," you will say,i"but I was not hurt; they beat me, but I did not feel it. When shall I awake? I 45must have another drink."