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¹ When you sit down to eat with a ruler,
    observe carefully what^[a] is before you,
² and put a knife to your throat
    if you are given to appetite.
^3 (a)Do not desire his delicacies,
    for they are deceptive food.
^4 (b)Do not toil to acquire wealth;
    ^(c)be discerning enough to desist.
⁵ When your eyes light on it, it is gone,
    ^(d)for suddenly it sprouts wings,
    flying like an eagle toward heaven.
^6 (e)Do not eat the bread of a man who is ^(f)stingy;^{[b]
    (g)}do not desire his delicacies,
⁷ for he is like one who is inwardly calculating.^[c]
    "Eat and drink!" he says to you,
    but his ^(h)heart 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 (i)Do not move an ancient landmark
    or enter the fields of the fatherless,
¹¹ for their ^(j)Redeemer is strong;
    he will ^(k)plead their cause against you.
¹² Apply your heart to instruction
    and your ear to words of knowledge.
¹³ Do not withhold ^(l)discipline from a child;
    ^(m)if you strike him with a rod, he will not die.
¹⁴ If you strike him with the rod,
    you will ⁽ⁿ⁾save his soul from Sheol.
^15 (o)My son, if your heart is wise,
    my heart too will be glad.
¹⁶ My ^(p)inmost being^[d] will exult
    when your lips speak ^(q)what is right.
¹⁷ Let not your heart ^(r)envy sinners,
    but continue in ^(s)the fear of the Lord all the day.
¹⁸ Surely ^(t)there is a future,
    and your ^(u)hope will not be cut off.

¹⁹ Hear, my son, and ^(v)be wise,
    and ^(w)direct your heart in the way.
²⁰ Be not among ^(x)drunkards^[e]
    or among ^(y)gluttonous eaters of meat,
²¹ for the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty,
    and ^(z)slumber will clothe them with rags.

^22 (aa)Listen to your father who gave you life,
    ^(ab)and do not despise your mother when she is old.
^23 (ac)Buy truth, and do not sell it;
    buy wisdom, instruction, and understanding.
^24 (ad)The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice;
    he who fathers a wise son will be glad in him.
^25 (ae)Let your father and mother be glad;
    let ^(af)her who bore you rejoice.

²⁶ My son, give me your heart,
    and let your eyes observe^[f] my ways.
²⁷ For a prostitute is ^(ag)a deep pit;
    ^(ah)an adulteress^[g] is a narrow ^(ai)well.
^28 (aj)She lies in wait like a robber
    and increases the traitors among mankind.

^29 (ak)Who has woe? Who has sorrow?
    Who has strife? Who has complaining?
Who has ^(al)wounds without cause?
    Who has ^(am)redness of eyes?
³⁰ Those who ^(an)tarry long over wine;
    those who go to try ^(ao)mixed wine.
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 ^(ap)bites like a serpent
    and stings like an adder.
³³ Your eyes will see strange things,
    and your heart utter ^(aq)perverse 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]
35 "They ^(ar)struck me," you will say,^[i] "but I was not hurt;
    they beat me, but I did not feel it.
When shall I awake?
    I ^(as)must have another drink."