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.
5
When your eyes light on it, it is gone, 4for suddenly it sprouts wings, flying like an eagle toward heaven.
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,
12
Apply your heart to instruction and your ear to words of knowledge.
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.
21
for the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty, and 26slumber will clothe them with rags
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.
26
My son, give me your heart, and let your eyes observef my ways.
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?
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
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.
(English Standard Version - The Holy Bible Online)