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On Life and Conduct

¹ When you sit down to dine with a ruler,
Consider carefully ^(F1)what is before you,

² And put a knife to your throat
If you are a ^(C1)person of great appetite.

³ Do not ^(C1)desire his delicacies,
For it is deceptive food.

^4 (C1)Do not weary yourself to gain wealth;
^(F1)(C2)Stop dwelling on it.

^5 (F1)When you set your eyes on it, it is gone.
For ^(C1)wealth certainly makes itself wings
Like an eagle that flies toward the heavens.

^6 (C1)Do not eat the bread of ^(F1)a ^(C2)selfish person;
Or desire his delicacies;

⁷ For as he ^(F1)thinks within himself, so he is.
He says to you, "Eat and drink!"
But ^(C1)his heart is not with you.

⁸ You will ^(C1)vomit up ^(F1)the morsel you have eaten
And waste your ^(F2)compliments.

^9 (C1)Do not speak ^(F1)to be heard by a fool,
For he will ^(C2)despise the wisdom of your words.

¹⁰ Do not move the ancient boundary
Or ^(C1)go into the fields of the fatherless,

¹¹ For their ^(C1)Redeemer is strong;
^(C2)He will plead their case against you.

¹² Apply your heart to discipline,
And your ears to words of knowledge.

^13 (C1)Do not withhold discipline from a child;
Though you strike him with the rod, he will not die.

¹⁴ You shall strike him with the rod
And ^(C1)rescue his soul from Sheol.

¹⁵ My son, if your heart is ^(C1)wise,
My own heart also will be glad,

¹⁶ And my ^(F1)innermost being will rejoice
When your lips speak ^(C1)what is right.

^17 (C1)Do not let your heart envy sinners,
But live in ^(F1)the ^(C2)fear of the LORD ^(F2)always.

¹⁸ Certainly there is a ^(F1)(C1)future,
And your ^(C2)hope will not be cut off.

¹⁹ Listen, my son, and ^(C1)be wise,
And ^(C2)direct your heart in the way.

²⁰ Do not be with ^(C1)heavy drinkers of wine,
Or with ^(C2)gluttonous eaters of meat;

²¹ For the ^(C1)heavy drinker and the glutton will come to poverty,
And ^(C2)drowsiness will clothe one with rags.

^22 (C1)Listen to your father, who fathered you,
And ^(C2)do not despise your mother when she is old.

^23 (C1)Buy truth, and do not sell it,
Get wisdom, instruction, and understanding.

²⁴ The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice,
And ^(C1)he who fathers a wise son will be glad in him.

²⁵ Let your ^(C1)father and your mother be glad,
And let her rejoice who gave birth to you.

^26 (C1)Give me your heart, my son,
And let your eyes ^(F1)(C2)delight in my ways.

²⁷ For a prostitute is a ^(C1)deep pit,
And a ^(F1)(C2)strange woman is a narrow well.

²⁸ Certainly she ^(C1)lurks as a robber,
And increases the treacherous among mankind.

²⁹ Who has ^(C1)woe? Who has sorrow?
Who has contentions? Who has complaining?
Who has wounds without cause?
Who has red eyes?

³⁰ Those who ^(C1)linger long over wine,
Those who go to ^(F1)taste ^(C2)mixed wine.

³¹ Do not look at wine when it is red,
When it ^(F1)sparkles in the cup,
When it ^(C1)goes down smoothly;

³² In the end it ^(C1)bites like a snake
And stings like a ^(C2)viper.

³³ Your eyes will see strange things
And your ^(F1)mind will ^(C1)say perverse things.

³⁴ And you will be like one who lies down in the ^(F1)middle of the sea,
Or like one who lies down on the top of a ^(F2)mast.

³⁵ "They ^(C1)struck me, but I did not become ^(F1)ill;
They beat me, but I did not know it.
When will I awake?
I will ^(C2)seek ^(F2)another drink."