^{1 Ref} When thou sittest to eat with a ruler, Thou considerest diligently that which `is' before thee,

^{2 Ref} And thou hast put a knife to thy throat, If thou `art' a man of appetite.

^{3 Ref} Have no desire to his dainties, seeing it `is' lying food.

^{4 Ref} Labour not to make wealth, From thine own understanding cease, Dost thou cause thine eyes to fly upon it? Then it is not.

^{5 Ref} For wealth maketh to itself wings, As an eagle it flieth to the heavens.

^{6 Ref} Eat not the bread of an evil eye, And have no desire to his dainties,

^{7 Ref} For as he hath thought in his soul, so `is' he, `Eat and drink,' saith he to thee, And his heart `is' not with thee.

⁸ Thy morsel thou hast eaten thou dost vomit up, And hast marred thy words that `are' sweet.

^{9 Ref} In the ears of a fool speak not, For he treadeth on the wisdom of thy words.

^{10 Ref} Remove not a border of olden times, And into fields of the fatherless enter not,

^{11 Ref} For their Redeemer `is' strong, He doth plead their cause with thee.

^{12 Ref} Bring in to instruction thy heart, And thine ear to sayings of knowledge.

^{13 Ref} Withhold not from a youth chastisement, When thou smitest him with a rod he dieth not.

^{14 Ref} Thou with a rod smitest him, And his soul from Sheol thou deliverest.

^{15 Ref} My son, if thy heart hath been wise, My heart rejoiceth, even mine,

^{16 Ref} And my reins exult when thy lips speak uprightly.

^{17 Ref} Let not thy heart be envious at sinners, But -- in the fear of Jehovah all the day.

^{18 Ref} For, is there a posterity? Then thy hope is not cut off.

^{19 Ref} Hear thou, my son, and be wise, And make happy in the way thy heart,

^{20 Ref} Be not thou among quaffers of wine, Among gluttonous ones of flesh,

^{21 Ref} For the quaffer and glutton become poor, And drowsiness clotheth with rags.

^{22 Ref} Hearken to thy father, who begat thee, And despise not thy mother when she hath become old.

^{23 Ref} Truth buy, and sell not, Wisdom, and instruction, and understanding,

^{24 Ref} The father of the righteous rejoiceth greatly, The begetter of the wise rejoiceth in him.

^{25 Ref} Rejoice doth thy father and thy mother, Yea, she that bare thee is joyful.

^{26 Ref} Give, my son, thy heart to me, And let thine eyes watch my ways.

^{27 Ref} For a harlot `is' a deep ditch, And a strange woman `is' a strait pit.

^{28 Ref} She also, as catching prey, lieth in wait, And the treacherous among men she increaseth.

^{29 Ref} Who hath wo? who hath sorrow? Who hath contentions? who hath plaint? Who hath wounds without cause? Who hath redness of eyes?

^{30 Ref} Those tarrying by the wine, Those going in to search out mixed wine.

^{31 Ref} See not wine when it showeth itself red, When it giveth in the cup its colour, It goeth up and down through the upright.

^{32 Ref} Its latter end -- as a serpent it biteth, And as a basilisk it stingeth.

^{33 Ref} Thine eyes see strange women, And thy heart speaketh perverse things.

^{34 Ref} And thou hast been as one lying down in the heart of the sea, And as one lying down on the top of a mast.

^{35 Ref} `They smote me, I have not been sick, They beat me, I have not known. When I awake -- I seek it yet again!'