1
When you sit down to eat with a ruler, observe carefully what 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; 7do not desire his delicacies,
7
for he is like one who is inwardly calculating. "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.