1 When you sit to eat with a ruler,
consider diligently what is before you;
2 put a knife to your throat
if you are a man given to appetite.
3 Don’t be desirous of his dainties,
since they are deceitful food.
4 Don’t weary yourself to be rich.
In your wisdom, show restraint.
5 Why do you set your eyes on that which is not?
For it certainly sprouts wings like an eagle and flies in the sky.
6 Don’t eat the food of him who has a stingy eye,
and don’t crave his delicacies,
7 for as he thinks about the cost, so he is.
"Eat and drink!" he says to you,
but his heart is not with you.
8 You will vomit up the morsel which you have eaten
and waste your pleasant words.
9 Don’t speak in the ears of a fool,
for he will despise the wisdom of your words.
10 Don’t move the ancient boundary stone.
Don’t encroach on the fields of the fatherless,
11 for their Defender is strong.
He will plead their case against you.
12 Apply your heart to instruction,
and your ears to the words of knowledge.
13 Don’t withhold correction from a child.
If you punish him with the rod, he will not die.
14 Punish him with the rod,
and save his soul from Sheol.
15 My son, if your heart is wise,
then my heart will be glad, even mine.
16 Yes, my heart will rejoice
when your lips speak what is right.
17 Don’t let your heart envy sinners,
but rather fear Yahweh all day long.
18 Indeed surely there is a future hope,
and your hope will not be cut off.
19 Listen, my son, and be wise,
and keep your heart on the right path!
20 Don’t be among ones drinking too much wine,
or those who gorge themselves on meat;
21 for the drunkard and the glutton shall become poor;
and drowsiness clothes them in rags.
22 Listen to your father who gave you life,
and don’t despise your mother when she is old.
23 Buy the truth, and don’t sell it.
Get wisdom, discipline, and understanding.
24 The father of the righteous has great joy.
Whoever fathers a wise child delights in him.
25 Let your father and your mother be glad!
Let her who bore you rejoice!
26 My son, give me your heart;
and let your eyes keep in my ways.
27 For a prostitute is a deep pit;
and a wayward wife is a narrow well.
28 Yes, she lies in wait like a robber,
and increases the unfaithful among men.
29 Who has woe?
Who has sorrow?
Who has strife?
Who has complaints?
Who has needless bruises?
Who has bloodshot eyes?
30 Those who stay long at the wine;
those who go to seek out mixed wine.
31 Don’t look at the wine when it is red,
when it sparkles in the cup,
when it goes down smoothly.
32 In the end, it bites like a snake,
and poisons like a viper.
33 Your eyes will see strange things,
and your mind will imagine confusing things.
34 Yes, you will be as he who lies down in the middle of the sea,
or as he who lies on top of the rigging:
35 "They hit me, and I was not hurt!
They beat me, and I don’t feel it!
When will I wake up? I can do it again.
I will look for more."
1 When thou sittest to eat with a ruler, consider diligently what [is] before thee;
2 and put a knife to thy throat if thou [art] a man given to appetite.
3 Do not be desirous of his dainties; for they [are] deceitful food.
4 Do not labour to be rich; cease from thine own wisdom.
5 Wilt thou set thine eyes upon riches which are not? For they shall certainly make themselves wings; they shall fly away as an eagle toward heaven.
6 Do not eat the bread of [anyone who has] an evil eye, neither desire his dainty foods;
7 for as he thinks in his soul, so [is] he; Eat and drink, he shall say unto thee, but his heart [is] not with thee.
8 Didst thou eat thy part? Thou shalt vomit it up and lose thy sweet words.
9 Do not speak in the ears of a fool, for he will despise the prudence of thy words.
10 Do not remove the old landmark, and do not enter into the inheritance of the fatherless:
11 For their redeemer [is] mighty; he shall judge their cause against thee.
12 Apply thine heart unto chastening and thine ears to the words of wisdom.
13 Do not withhold correction from the child; for [if] thou shall beat him with the rod, he shall not die.
14 Thou shalt beat him with the rod and shalt deliver his soul from Sheol.
15 My son, if thy heart is wise, my heart shall also rejoice;
16 my kidneys shall also rejoice when thy lips speak right things.
17 Let not thy heart envy sinners, but [persevere] in the fear of the LORD all day long.
18 For surely there is an end, and thy hope shall not be cut off.
19 Hear thou, my son, and be wise, and straighten thy heart in the way.
20 Do not be among those who are drunk with wine; nor among gluttonous eaters of food;
21 for the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty, and drowsiness shall cause them to wear rags.
22 Hearken unto thy father that begat thee, and despise not thy mother when she is old.
23 Buy the truth and sell [it] not, [also] wisdom and instruction and understanding.
24 The father of the righteous shall greatly rejoice, and he that begets a wise [child] shall have joy with him.
25 Thy father and thy mother shall be glad, and she that bore thee shall rejoice.
26 My son, give me thine heart, and let thine eyes observe my ways.
27 For a whore [is] a deep ditch and a strange woman [is] a narrow pit.
28 She also lies in wait as [for] a prey and increases the transgressors among men.
29 For who [shall be] the woe? for who [shall be] the woe? for who contention? for who quarrels? for who the wounds without cause? who shall have redness of eyes?
30 For those that tarry long at the wine; those that go to seek mixed wine.
31 Do not look upon the wine when it is red, when it gives its colour in the cup, it goes down smoothly.
32 At the last it bites like a serpent and stings like an adder.
33 Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thine heart shall utter perverse things.
34 [Yea], thou shalt be as he that lies down in the midst of the sea or as he that sleeps at the rudder.
35 They have stricken me, [thou shalt say], [and] I was not sick; they have beaten me, [and] I felt [it] not; when I shall awake, I will seek it yet again.: