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¹ When thou sittest to eate with a ruler, consider diligently what is before thee,² And put the knife to thy throte, if thou be a man giuen to the appetite.³ Be not desirous of his deintie meates: for it is a deceiuable meate.

⁴ Trauaile not too much to be rich: but cease from thy wisdome.⁵ Wilt thou cast thine eyes vpon it, which is nothing? for riches taketh her to her wings, as an eagle, and flyeth into the heauen.

⁶ Eate thou not the bread of him that hath an euil eye, neither desire his deintie meates.⁷ For as though he thought it in his heart, so will hee say vnto thee, Eate and drinke: but his heart is not with thee.⁸ Thou shalt vomit thy morsels that thou hast eaten, and thou shalt lose thy sweete wordes.

⁹ Speake not in the eares of a foole: for hee will despise the wisdome of thy wordes.

¹⁰ Remooue not the ancient boundes, and enter not into the fieldes of the fatherlesse.¹¹ For he that redeemeth them, is mightie: he will defend their cause against thee.

¹² Apply thine heart to instruction, and thine eares to the wordes of knowledge.¹³ Withhold not correction from the childe: if thou smite him with the rodde, he shall not die.¹⁴ Thou shalt smite him with the rodde, and shalt deliuer his soule from hell.¹⁵ My sonne, if thine heart be wise, mine heart shall reioyce, and I also.¹⁶ And my reynes shall reioyce, when thy lips speake righteous things.

¹⁷ Let not thine heart bee enuious against sinners: but let it bee in the feare of the Lorde continually.¹⁸ For surely there is an ende, and thy hope shall not be cut off.

¹⁹ O thou my sonne, heare, and bee wise, and guide thine heart in the way.²⁰ Keepe not company with drunkards, nor with gluttons.²¹ For the drunkard and the glutton shall bee poore, and the sleeper shalbe clothed with ragges.²² Obey thy father that hath begotten thee, and despise not thy mother when she is olde.²³ Bye the trueth, but sell it not: likewise wisdome, and instruction, and vnderstanding.²⁴ The father of the righteous shal greatly reioyce, and hee that begetteth a wise childe, shall haue ioy of him.²⁵ Thy father and thy mother shall be glad, and she that bare thee shall reioyce.²⁶ My sonne, giue mee thine heart, and let thine eyes delite in my wayes.²⁷ For a whore is as a deepe ditche, and a strange woman is as a narrowe pitte.²⁸ Also she lyeth in wait as for a praye, and she increaseth the transgressers among men.

²⁹ To whome is woe? to whome is sorowe? to whom is strife? to whom is murmuring? to whom are woundes without cause? and to whome is the rednesse of the eyes?³⁰ Euen to them that tarie long at the wine, to them that goe, and seeke mixt wine.³¹ Looke not thou vpon the wine, when it is red, and when it sheweth his colour in the cup, or goeth downe pleasantly.³² In the ende thereof it will bite like a serpent, and hurt like a cockatrise.³³ Thine eyes shall looke vpon strange women, and thine heart shall speake lewde things.³⁴ And thou shalt bee as one that sleepeth in the middes of the sea, and as hee that sleepeth in the toppe of the maste.³⁵ They haue stricken mee, shalt thou say, but I was not sicke: they haue beaten mee, but I knew not, when I awoke: therefore will I seeke it yet still.