[1] 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.