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¹ When thou sittest to eat with a ruler, consider well him that is before thee;² And put a knife to thy throat, if thou be a man given to appetite.³ Be not desirous of his dainties; seeing they are deceitful food.

⁴ Weary not thyself to be rich; cease from thine own wisdom.⁵ Wilt thou set thine eyes upon it? it is gone; {P}

⁶ Eat thou not the bread of him that hath an evil eye, neither desire thou his dainties;⁷ For as one that hath reckoned within himself, so is he: ⁸ The morsel which thou hast eaten shalt thou vomit up, and lose thy sweet words.

⁹ Speak not in the ears of a fool; for he will despise the wisdom of thy words.

¹⁰ Remove not the ancient landmark; and enter not into the fields of the fatherless;¹¹ For their Redeemer is strong; He will plead their cause with thee.

¹² Apply thy heart unto instruction, and thine ears to the words of knowledge.¹³ Withhold not correction from the child; for though thou beat him with the rod, he will not die.¹⁴ Thou beatest him with the rod, and wilt deliver his soul from the nether-world.¹⁵ My son, if thy heart be wise, my heart will be glad, even mine;¹⁶ Yea, my reins will rejoice, when thy lips speak right things.

¹⁷ Let not thy heart envy sinners, but be in the fear of the LORD all the day;¹⁸ For surely there is a future; and thy hope shall not be cut off.

¹⁹ Hear thou, my son, and be wise, and guide thy heart in the way.²⁰ Be not among winebibbers; among gluttonous eaters of flesh;²¹ For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty; and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags.²² Hearken unto thy father that begot 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 will greatly rejoice; and he that begetteth a wise child will have joy of him.²⁵ Let thy father and thy mother be glad, and let her that bore thee rejoice.²⁶ My son, give me thy heart, and let thine eyes observe my ways.²⁷ For a harlot is a deep ditch; and an alien woman is a narrow pit.²⁸ She also lieth in wait as a robber, and increaseth the faithless among men.

²⁹ Who crieth: 'Woe'? who: 'Alas'? who hath contentions? who hath raving? who hath wounds without cause? ³⁰ They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to try mixed wine.³¹ Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth its colour in the cup, when it glideth down smoothly;³² At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like a basilisk.³³ Thine eyes shall behold strange things, and thy heart shall utter confused things.³⁴ Yea, thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea, or as he that lieth upon the top of a mast.³⁵ 'They have struck me, and I felt it not, they have beaten me, and I knew it not;