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[1] When thou sittest to eat with a ruler, Thou considerest diligently that which [is] before thee,
[2] And thou hast put a knife to thy throat, If thou [art] a man of appetite.
[3] Have no desire to his dainties, seeing it [is] lying food.
[4] Labour not to make wealth, From thine own understanding cease, Dost thou cause thine eyes to fly upon it? Then it is not.
[5] For wealth maketh to itself wings, As an eagle it flieth to the heavens.
[6] Eat not the bread of an evil eye, And have no desire to his dainties,
[7] 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] In the ears of a fool speak not, For he treadeth on the wisdom of thy words.
[10] Remove not a border of olden times, And into fields of the fatherless enter not,
[11] For their Redeemer [is] strong, He doth plead their cause with thee.
[12] Bring in to instruction thy heart, And thine ear to sayings of knowledge.
[13] Withhold not from a youth chastisement, When thou smitest him with a rod he dieth not.
[14] Thou with a rod smitest him, And his soul from Sheol thou deliverest.
[15] My son, if thy heart hath been wise, My heart rejoiceth, even mine,
[16] And my reins exult when thy lips speak uprightly.
[17] Let not thy heart be envious at sinners, But -- in the fear of Jehovah all the day.
[18] For, is there a posterity? Then thy hope is not cut off.
[19] Hear thou, my son, and be wise, And make happy in the way thy heart,
[20] Be not thou among quaffers of wine, Among gluttonous ones of flesh,
[21] For the quaffer and glutton become poor, And drowsiness clotheth with rags.
[22] Hearken to thy father, who begat thee, And despise not thy mother when she hath become old.
[23] Truth buy, and sell not, Wisdom, and instruction, and understanding,
[24] The father of the righteous rejoiceth greatly, The begetter of the wise rejoiceth in him.
[25] Rejoice doth thy father and thy mother, Yea, she that bare thee is joyful.
[26] Give, my son, thy heart to me, And let thine eyes watch my ways.
[27] For a harlot [is] a deep ditch, And a strange woman [is] a strait pit.
[28] She also, as catching prey, lieth in wait, And the treacherous among men she increaseth.
[29] Who hath wo? who hath sorrow? Who hath contentions? who hath plaint? Who hath wounds without cause? Who hath redness of eyes?
[30] Those tarrying by the wine, Those going in to search out mixed wine.
[31] 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] Its latter end -- as a serpent it biteth, And as a basilisk it stingeth.
[33] Thine eyes see strange women, And thy heart speaketh perverse things.
[34] 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] `They smote me, I have not been sick, They beat me, I have not known. When I awake -- I seek it yet again!'
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