[1] When you sit down to dine with a ruler, Consider carefully what is before you,
[2] And put a knife to your throat If you are a man of great appetite.
[3] Do not desire his delicacies, For it is deceptive food.
[4] Do not weary yourself to gain wealth, Cease from your consideration of it.
[5] When you set your eyes on it, it is gone. For wealth certainly makes itself wings Like an eagle that flies toward the heavens.
[6] Do not eat the bread of a selfish man, Or desire his delicacies;
[7] For as he thinks within himself, so he is. He says to you, “Eat and drink!” But his heart is not with you.
[8] You will vomit up the morsel you have eaten, And waste your compliments.
[9] Do not speak in the hearing of a fool, For he will despise the wisdom of your words.
[10] Do not move the ancient boundary Or go into the fields of the fatherless,
[11] For their Redeemer is strong; He will plead their case against you.
[12] Apply your heart to discipline And your ears to words of knowledge.
[13] Do not hold back discipline from the child, Although you strike him with the rod, he will not die.
[14] You shall strike him with the rod And rescue his soul from Sheol.
[15] My son, if your heart is wise, My own heart also will be glad;
[16] And my inmost being will rejoice When your lips speak what is right.
[17] Do not let your heart envy sinners, But live in the fear of the LORD always.
[18] Surely there is a future, And your hope will not be cut off.
[19] Listen, my son, and be wise, And direct your heart in the way.
[20] Do not be with heavy drinkers of wine, Or with gluttonous eaters of meat;
[21] For the heavy drinker and the glutton will come to poverty, And drowsiness will clothe one with rags.
[22] Listen to your father who begot you, And do not despise your mother when she is old.
[23] Buy truth, and do not sell it, Get wisdom and instruction and understanding.
[24] The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice, And he who sires a wise son will be glad in him.
[25] Let your father and your mother be glad, And let her rejoice who gave birth to you.
[26] Give me your heart, my son, And let your eyes delight in my ways.
[27] For a harlot is a deep pit And an adulterous woman is a narrow well.
[28] Surely she lurks as a robber, And increases the faithless among men.
[29] Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has complaining? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes?
[30] Those who linger long over wine, Those who go to taste mixed wine.
[31] Do not look on the wine when it is red, When it sparkles in the cup, When it goes down smoothly;
[32] At the last it bites like a serpent And stings like a viper.
[33] Your eyes will see strange things And your mind will utter perverse things.
[34] And you will be like one who lies down in the middle of the sea, Or like one who lies down on the top of a mast.
[35] “They struck me, but I did not become ill; They beat me, but I did not know it. When shall I awake? I will seek another drink.”