23 When you sit down to eat with a ruler,

Consider carefully what is before you;

2 And put a knife to your throat

If you are a man given to appetite.

3 Do not desire his delicacies,

For they are deceptive food.

4 aDo not overwork to be rich;

bBecause of your own understanding, cease!

5 1Will you set your eyes on that which is not?

For riches certainly make themselves wings;

They fly away like an eagle toward heaven.

6 Do not eat the bread of ca 2miser,

Nor desire his delicacies;

7 For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.

“Eat and drink!” dhe says to you,

But his heart is not with you.

8 The morsel you have eaten, you will vomit up,

And waste your pleasant words.

9 eDo not speak in the hearing of a fool,

For he will despise the wisdom of your words.

10 Do not remove the ancient 3landmark,

Nor enter the fields of the fatherless;

11 fFor their Redeemer is mighty;

He will plead their cause against you.

12 Apply your heart to instruction,

And your ears to words of knowledge.

13 gDo not withhold correction from a child,

For if you beat him with a rod, he will not die.

14 You shall beat him with a rod,

And deliver his soul from 4hell.

15 My son, if your heart is wise,

My heart will rejoice—indeed, I myself;

16 Yes, my 5inmost being will rejoice

When your lips speak right things.

17 hDo not let your heart envy sinners,

But ibe zealous for the fear of the Lord all the day;

18 jFor surely there is a 6hereafter,

And your hope will not be cut off.

19 Hear, my son, and be wise;

And guide your heart in the way.

20 kDo not mix with winebibbers,

Or with gluttonous eaters of meat;

21 For the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty,

And drowsiness will clothe a man with rags.

22 lListen to your father who begot you,

And do not despise your mother when she is old.

23 mBuy the truth, and do not sell it,

Also wisdom and instruction and understanding.

24 nThe father of the righteous will greatly rejoice,

And he who begets a wise child will delight in him.

25 Let your father and your mother be glad,

And let her who bore you rejoice.

26 My son, give me your heart,

And let your eyes observe my ways.

27 oFor a harlot is a deep pit,

And a seductress is a narrow well.

28 pShe also lies in wait as for a victim,

And increases the unfaithful among men.

29 qWho has woe?

Who has sorrow?

Who has contentions?

Who has complaints?

Who has wounds without cause?

Who rhas redness of eyes?

30 sThose who linger long at the wine,

Those who go in search of tmixed wine.

31 Do not look on the wine when it is red,

When it sparkles in the cup,

When it 7swirls around smoothly;

32 At the last it bites like a serpent,

And stings like a viper.

33 Your eyes will see strange things,

And your heart will utter perverse things.

34 Yes, you will be like one who lies down in the 8midst of the sea,

Or like one who lies at the top of the mast, saying:

35 “They uhave struck me, but I was not hurt;

They have beaten me, but I did not feel it.

When shall vI awake, that I may seek another drink?”