Verse 1
When thou sittest to eat with a ruler, consider diligently what 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: for they are deceitful meat.
Verse 4
Labour not 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; they fly away as an eagle toward heaven.
Verse 6
Eat thou not the bread of him that hath an evil eye, neither desire thou his dainty meats:
Verse 7
For as he thinketh in his heart, 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 ears of a fool: for he will despise the wisdom of thy words.
Verse 10
Remove not the old landmark; and enter not into the fields of the fatherless:
Verse 11
For their redeemer is mighty; he shall plead their cause with thee.
Verse 12
Apply thine heart unto instruction, and thine ears to the words of knowledge.
Verse 13
Withhold not correction from the child: for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die.
Verse 14
Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell.
Verse 15
My son, if thine heart be wise, my heart shall rejoice, even mine.
Verse 16
Yea, my reins shall rejoice, when thy lips speak right things.
Verse 17
Let not thine heart envy sinners: but be thou in the fear of the LORD all the day long.
Verse 18
For surely there is an end; and thine expectation shall not be cut off.
Verse 19
Hear thou, my son, and be wise, and guide thine heart in the way.
Verse 20
Be not among winebibbers; among riotous eaters of flesh:
Verse 21
For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty: and drowsiness shall 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; also wisdom, and instruction, and understanding.
Verse 24
The father of the righteous shall greatly rejoice: and he that begetteth a wise child shall have joy of him.
Verse 25
Thy father and thy mother shall be glad, and she that bare thee shall rejoice.
Verse 26
My son, give me thine heart, and let thine eyes observe my ways.
Verse 27
For a whore is a deep ditch; and a strange woman is a narrow pit.
Verse 28
She also lieth in wait as for a prey, and increaseth the transgressors among men.
Verse 29
Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who hath babbling? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes?
Verse 30
They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine.
Verse 31
Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright.
Verse 32
At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder.
Verse 33
Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thine 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 sick; they have beaten me, and I felt it not: when shall I awake? I will seek it yet again.