1When thou sittest to eat with a ruler, consider diligently what is before thee,
2And put thy knife to thy throat, if thou be a man given to the appetite.
3Be not desirous of his dainty meats: for it is a deceivable meat.
4Travail not too much to be rich: but cease from thy wisdom.
5Wilt thou cast thine eyes upon it, which is nothing? for riches taketh her to her wings, as an Eagle, and flieth into the heaven.
6Eat thou not the bread of him that hath an evil eye, neither desire his dainty meats.
7For as though he thought it in his heart: so will he say unto thee, Eat and drink: but his heart is not with thee.
8Thou shalt vomit thy morsel that thou hast eaten, and thou shalt lose thy sweet words.
9Speak not in the ears of a fool: for he will despise the wisdom of thy words.
10Remove not the ancient bounds, and enter not into the fields of the fatherless.
11For he that redeemeth them, is mighty: he will defend their cause against thee.
12Apply thine heart to instruction, and thine ears to the words of knowledge.
13Withhold not correction from the child: if thou smite him with the rod, he shall not die.
14Thou shalt smite him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell.
15My son, if thine heart be wise, mine heart shall rejoice, and I also,
16And my reins shall rejoice, when thy lips speak righteous things.
17Let not thine heart be envious against sinners: but let it be in the fear of the Lord continually.
18For surely there is an end, and thy hope shall not be cut off.
19O thou my son, hear, and be wise, and guide thine heart in the way.
20Keep not company with drunkards, nor with gluttons.
21For the drunkard and the glutton shall be poor, and the sleeper shall be clothed with rags.
22Obey thy father that hath begotten thee, and despise not thy mother when she is old.
23Buy the truth, but sell it not: likewise wisdom, instruction, and understanding.
24The father of the righteous shall greatly rejoice, and he that begetteth a wise child, shall have joy of him.
25Thy father and thy mother shall be glad, and she that bare thee shall rejoice.
26My son, give me thine heart, and let thine eyes delight in my ways.
27For a whore is as a deep ditch, and a strange woman is as a narrow pit.
28Also she lieth in wait as for a prey, and she increaseth the transgressors among men.
29To whom is woe? to whom is sorrow? to whom is strife? to whom is murmuring? to whom are wounds without cause? and to whom is the redness of the eyes?
30Even to them that tarry long at the wine, to them that go, and seek mixed wine.
31Look not thou upon the wine, when it is red, and when it showeth his color in the cup, or goeth down pleasantly.
32In the end thereof it will bite like a serpent, and hurt like a cockatrice.
33Thine eyes shall look upon strange women, and thine heart shall speak lewd things.
34And thou shalt be as one that sleepeth in the midst of the sea, and as he that sleepeth in the top of the mast.
35They have stricken me, shalt thou say, but I was not sick: they have beaten me, but I knew not, when I awoke: therefore will I seek it yet still.