Verse 1
When thou sittest to eat with a ruler, Consider diligently him that is before thee;
Verse 2
And put a knife to thy throat, If thou be a man given to appetite.
Verse 3
Be not desirous of his dainties; Seeing they are deceitful food.
Verse 4
Weary not thyself to be rich; Cease from thine own wisdom.
Verse 5
Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not? For [riches] certainly make themselves wings, Like an eagle that flieth toward heaven.
Verse 6
Eat thou not the bread of him that hath an evil eye, Neither desire thou his dainties:
Verse 7
For as he thinketh within himself, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; But his heart is not with thee.
Verse 8
The morsel which thou hast eaten shalt thou vomit up, And lose thy sweet words.
Verse 9
Speak not in the hearing of a fool; For he will despise the wisdom of thy words.
Verse 10
Remove not the ancient landmark; And enter not into the fields of the fatherless:
Verse 11
For their Redeemer is strong; He will plead their cause against thee.
Verse 12
Apply thy heart unto instruction, And thine ears to the words of knowledge.
Verse 13
Withhold not correction from the child; [For] if thou beat him with the rod, he will not die.
Verse 14
Thou shalt beat him with the rod, And shalt deliver his soul from Sheol.
Verse 15
My son, if thy heart be wise, My heart will be glad, even mine:
Verse 16
Yea, my heart will rejoice, When thy lips speak right things.
Verse 17
Let not thy heart envy sinners; But [be thou] in the fear of Jehovah all the day long:
Verse 18
For surely there is a reward; And thy hope shall not be cut off.
Verse 19
Hear thou, my son, and be wise, And guide thy heart in the way.
Verse 20
Be not among winebibbers, Among gluttonous eaters of flesh:
Verse 21
For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty; And drowsiness will clothe [a man] with rags.
Verse 22
Hearken unto thy father that begat thee, And despise not thy mother when she is old.
Verse 23
Buy the truth, and sell it not; [Yea], wisdom, and instruction, and understanding.
Verse 24
The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice; And he that begetteth a wise child will have joy of him.
Verse 25
Let thy father and thy mother be glad, And let her that bare thee rejoice.
Verse 26
My son, give me thy heart; And let thine eyes delight in my ways.
Verse 27
For a harlot is a deep ditch; And a foreign woman is a narrow pit.
Verse 28
Yea, she lieth in wait as a robber, And increaseth the treacherous among men.
Verse 29
Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? Who hath complaining? who hath wounds without cause? Who hath redness of eyes?
Verse 30
They that tarry long at the wine; They that go to seek out mixed wine.
Verse 31
Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, When it sparkleth in the cup, When it goeth down smoothly:
Verse 32
At the last it biteth like a serpent, And stingeth like an adder.
Verse 33
Thine eyes shall behold strange things, And thy heart shall utter perverse things.
Verse 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.
Verse 35
They have stricken me, [shalt thou say], and I was not hurt; They have beaten me, and I felt it not: When shall I awake? I will seek it yet again.