1
When you sit down to eat with a ruler, Consider carefully what is before you;
2
And put a knife to your throat If you are a man given to appetite.
3
Do not desire his delicacies, For they are deceptive food.
4
Do not overwork to be rich; Because of your own understanding, cease
5
Will you set your eyes on that which is not? For riches certainly make themselves wings; They fly away like an eagle toward heaven.
6
Do not eat the bread of a miser, Nor desire his delicacies;
7
For as he thinks in his heart, so is he. "Eat and drink!" he says to you, But his heart is not with you.
8
The morsel you have eaten, you will vomit up, And waste your pleasant words.
9
Do not speak in the hearing of a fool, For he will despise the wisdom of your words.
10
Do not remove the ancient landmark, Nor enter the fields of the fatherless;
11
For their Redeemer is mighty; He will plead their cause against you.
12
Apply your heart to instruction, And your ears to words of knowledge.
13
Do not withhold correction from a child, For if you beat him with a rod, he will not die.
14
You shall beat him with a rod, And deliver his soul from hell.
15
My son, if your heart is wise, My heart will rejoice--indeed, I myself;
16
Yes, my inmost being will rejoice When your lips speak right things.
17
Do not let your heart envy sinners, But be zealous for the fear of the Lord all the day;
18
For surely there is a hereafter, And your hope will not be cut off.