[1] When you sit down to eat with a ruler, observe carefully what is before you,
[2] and put a knife to your throat if you are given to appetite.
[3] Do not desire his delicacies, for they are deceptive food.
[4] Do not toil to acquire wealth; be discerning enough to desist.
[5] When your eyes light on it, it is gone, for suddenly it sprouts wings, flying like an eagle toward heaven.
[6] Do not eat the bread of a man who is stingy; do not desire his delicacies,
[7] for he is like one who is inwardly calculating. “Eat and drink!” he says to you, but his heart is not with you.
[8] You will vomit up the morsels that you have eaten, and waste your pleasant words.
[9] Do not speak in the hearing of a fool, for he will despise the good sense of your words.
[10] Do not move an ancient landmark or enter the fields of the fatherless,
[11] for their Redeemer is strong; he will plead their cause against you.
[12] Apply your heart to instruction and your ear to words of knowledge.
[13] Do not withhold discipline from a child; if you strike him with a rod, he will not die.
[14] If you strike him with the rod, you will save his soul from Sheol.
[15] My son, if your heart is wise, my heart too will be glad.
[16] My inmost being will exult when your lips speak what is right.
[17] Let not your heart envy sinners, but continue in the fear of the LORD all the day.
[18] Surely there is a future, and your hope will not be cut off.
[19] Hear, my son, and be wise, and direct your heart in the way.
[20] Be not among drunkards or among gluttonous eaters of meat,
[21] for the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty, and slumber will clothe them with rags.
[22] Listen to your father who gave you life, and do not despise your mother when she is old.
[23] Buy truth, and do not sell it; buy wisdom, instruction, and understanding.
[24] The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice; he who fathers a wise son will be glad in him.
[25] Let your father and mother be glad; let her who bore you rejoice.
[26] My son, give me your heart, and let your eyes observe my ways.
[27] For a prostitute is a deep pit; an adulteress is a narrow well.
[28] She lies in wait like a robber and increases the traitors among mankind.
[29] Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has strife? Who has complaining? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes?
[30] Those who tarry long over wine; those who go to try mixed wine.
[31] Do not look at wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup and goes down smoothly.
[32] In the end it bites like a serpent and stings like an adder.
[33] Your eyes will see strange things, and your heart utter perverse things.
[34] You will be like one who lies down in the midst of the sea, like one who lies on the top of a mast.
[35] “They struck me,” you will say, “but I was not hurt; they beat me, but I did not feel it. When shall I awake? I must have another drink.”