1When you sit to eat with a ruler, consider diligently what is before you. 2Put a knife to your throat, if you are a man with a strong desire lustpassion. 3Do not crave his delicacies for it is deceptive food. 4Do not exhaust yourself to get rich. Be wise and show restraint. 5Will you look for things that do not exist? Riches grow wings and fly away like a bird. 6Do not eat the bread of a selfish man nor desire his delicacies. 7Just as he thinks in his heart: »Eat and drink,« he says to you. But his heart is not with you. 8You vomit the morsel you eat and waste your complements. 9Do not speak to a fool for he will despise your wise words. 10Do not remove the old landmark boundry. And do not enter the field of the fatherless. 11Their redeemer is mighty. He will plead their cause with you. 12Apply your heart to instruction discipline, and your ears to words of knowledge. 13Do not withhold discipline from a child. If you spank him with a stick he will not die. 14You will spank him with a stick and deliver him from death. 15My son, if your heart is wise, my heart will also rejoice! 16Yes, my inmost being rejoices when you speak right things. 17Do not let your heart envy sinners, but reverence Jehovah all day long. 18Surely there is a future hope and you will not be disappointed. 19Listen and be wise, my son, and direct your heart in the way. 20Do not associate with drunkards or gluttons. 21For the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty and drowsiness will clothe a man with rags. 22Listen to your father who gave you life. Do not despise your mother when she is old. 23Buy the truth and do not sell it. Also buy wisdom, and instruction, and understanding. 24The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice and he who gives birth to a wise child will receive joy from him. 25Your father and your mother will be glad. She who bore you will rejoice. 26My son, give me your heart and let your eyes keep my ways. 27A prostitute is a deep pit. An adulterous wife is a well of tribulation. 28She also lies in wait as for a victim, and increases the transgressors among men. 29Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has discord? Who has complaints? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes? 30Those who stay long at the wine. They seek mixed wine. 31Do not look on the wine when it is red, when it shines in the cup, when it goes down smoothly. 32In the end it bites like a serpent and stings like a viper. 33Your eyes will see strange things and your heart and mind will utter perverse things. 34You will be like one who lies down in the middle of the sea; like one who lies on top of a mast. 35»They struck me but I did not become sick. They beat me and I did not feel it. When will I awake? I will seek drink yet again.«