1When you sit down to eat with a ruler, observe carefully what[1] is before you,2and put a knife to your throat if you are given to appetite.3Do not desire his delicacies, for they are deceptive food. (أم 23:6)4Do not toil to acquire wealth; be discerning enough to desist. (أم 3:5; أم 3:7; أم 15:27; أم 26:12; أم 28:20; إش 5:21; مت 6:19; رو 12:16; 1تي 6:9; عب 13:5)5When your eyes light on it, it is gone, for suddenly it sprouts wings, flying like an eagle toward heaven. (أم 27:24)6Do not eat the bread of a man who is stingy;[2] do not desire his delicacies, (تث 15:9; مز 141:4; أم 23:3; أم 28:22)7for he is like one who is inwardly calculating.[3] “Eat and drink!” he says to you, but his heart is not with you. (مز 12:2)8You will vomit up the morsels that you have eaten, and waste your pleasant words.9Do not speak in the hearing of a fool, for he will despise the good sense of your words.10Do not move an ancient landmark or enter the fields of the fatherless, (أم 22:28)11for their Redeemer is strong; he will plead their cause against you. (خر 6:6; أي 19:25; أم 22:23)12Apply your heart to instruction and your ear to words of knowledge.13Do not withhold discipline from a child; if you strike him with a rod, he will not die. (أم 13:24; أم 19:18)14If you strike him with the rod, you will save his soul from Sheol. (1كو 5:5)15My son, if your heart is wise, my heart too will be glad. (أم 23:24; أم 29:3)16My inmost being[4] will exult when your lips speak what is right. (مز 7:9; مز 73:21; أم 8:6)17Let not your heart envy sinners, but continue in the fear of the Lord all the day. (مز 37:1; أم 28:14)18Surely there is a future, and your hope will not be cut off. (مز 9:18; أم 24:14; أم 24:20)19Hear, my son, and be wise, and direct your heart in the way. (أم 6:6; أم 9:6)20Be not among drunkards[5] or among gluttonous eaters of meat, (أم 23:29; أم 28:7; إش 5:11; إش 5:22; مت 24:49; لو 21:34; رو 13:13; أف 5:18)21for the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty, and slumber will clothe them with rags. (أم 6:10)22Listen to your father who gave you life, and do not despise your mother when she is old. (أم 1:8; أم 30:17)23Buy truth, and do not sell it; buy wisdom, instruction, and understanding. (أم 4:5; أم 4:7; أم 18:15; مت 13:44)24The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice; he who fathers a wise son will be glad in him. (أم 23:15; أم 29:3)25Let your father and mother be glad; let her who bore you rejoice. (أم 17:25; أم 23:24)26My son, give me your heart, and let your eyes observe[6] my ways.27For a prostitute is a deep pit; an adulteress[7] is a narrow well. (مز 55:23; أم 2:16; أم 22:14)28She lies in wait like a robber and increases the traitors among mankind. (أم 7:12; جا 7:26)29Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has strife? Who has complaining? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes? (تك 49:12; أم 23:20; أم 23:35)30Those who tarry long over wine; those who go to try mixed wine. (مز 75:8; أم 9:2; أم 9:5; إش 5:11; إش 5:22; إش 65:11)31Do not look at wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup and goes down smoothly.32In the end it bites like a serpent and stings like an adder. (أي 20:16)33Your eyes will see strange things, and your heart utter perverse things. (أم 2:12)34You will be like one who lies down in the midst of the sea, like one who lies on the top of a mast.[8]35“They struck me,” you will say,[9] “but I was not hurt; they beat me, but I did not feel it. When shall I awake? I must have another drink.” (أم 23:29; إش 56:12; إر 5:3)