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