1When you sit down to dine with a ruler,
consider carefully what is set before you,a
1When you sit down to eat with a ruler, discern carefully what is before your face,
2and put a knife to your throat
if you possess a great appetite.
2and put a knife to your throat if you are an owner of an appetite.
3Do not crave his delicacies,
for that food is deceptive.
3You should not mark out his delicacies, for it is bread of lies.
4Do not wear yourself out to get rich;
be wise enough to restrain yourself.
4Do not toil to become rich, cease from your own understanding.
5When you glance at wealth, it disappears,
for it makes wings for itself
and flies like an eagle to the sky.
5Will you make your eyes fly onto it, and it is not there? For it certainly makes for itself wings like an eagle and flies away to the heavens!
6Do not eat the bread of a stingy man,a
and do not crave his delicacies;
6Do not eat the bread of one evil of eye, and do not mark out his delicacies.
7for he is keeping track,
inwardly counting the cost.a
“Eat and drink,” he says to you,
but his heart is not with you.
7For like one who calculates in his soul, so is he—“Eat and drink,” he says to you, and his heart is not with you.
8You will vomit up what little you have eaten
and waste your pleasant words.
8Your morsel that you have eaten, you will vomit it up, and you will ruin your pleasant words!
9Do not speak to a fool,
for he will despise the wisdom of your words.
9Do not speak in the ears of a fool, for he will despise the wisdom of your words.
10Do not move an ancient boundary stone
or encroach on the fields of the fatherless,
10Do not remove a boundary of old, and do not enter into the fields of the fatherless.
11for their Redeemer is strong;
He will take up their case against you.
11For their Redeemer is strong—He will contend their dispute against you.
12Apply your heart to instruction
and your ears to words of knowledge.
12You must bring your heart to discipline, and your ears to the words of knowledge.
13Do not withhold discipline from a child;
although you strike him with a rod, he will not die.
13Do not withhold discipline from a child; if you strike him with the rod, he will not die.
14Strike him with a rod,
and you will deliver his soul from Sheol.
14You strike him with the rod, and you will deliver his soul from Sheol.
15My son, if your heart is wise,
my own heart will indeed rejoice.
15My son, if your heart is wise, my heart will be glad—even I.
16My inmost beinga will rejoice
when your lips speak what is right.
16And my kidneys will exult at the speaking of uprightness by your lips.
17Do not let your heart envy sinners,
but always continue in the fear of the LORD.
17Do not let your heart be jealous of the sinners, but rather in the fear of YHWH all the day.
18For surely there is a future,
and your hope will not be cut off.
18For surely there is a posterity, and your hope will not be cut off.
19Listen, my son, and be wise,
and guide your heart on the right course.
19Listen you, my son, and be wise, and let your heart walk straight in the way.
20Do not join those who drink too much wine
or gorge themselves on meat.
20Not Be among those getting drunk on wine, among those being gluttons of flesh to themelves.
21For the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty,
and drowsiness will clothe them in rags.
21For the drunkard and the glutton will be dispossessed, and drowsiness will clothe them in rags.
22Listen to your father who gave you life,
and do not despise your mother when she is old.
22Listen to your father, this one begot you, and do not despise your mother when she is old.
23Invest in truth and never sell it—
in wisdom and instruction and understanding.
23Acquire truth and do not sell it—wisdom, and discipline, and discernment.
24The father of a righteous man will greatly rejoice,
and he who fathers a wise son will delight in him.
24The father of a righteous one will greatly rejoice, and the one begetting a wise son will be glad in him.
25May your father and mother be glad,
and may she who gave you birth rejoice!
25Let your father and your mother be glad, and let she who bore you rejoice.
26My son, give me your heart,
and let your eyes delight in my ways.
26My son, give your heart to me, and let your eyes delight in my ways.
27For a prostitute is a deep pit,
and an adulteressa is a narrow well.
27For a prostitute is a deep pit, and a strange woman is a narrow well.
28Like a robber she lies in wait
and multiplies the faithless among men.
28She also, like a robber, lies in wait, and she increases the treacherous ones among men.
29Who has woe? Who has sorrow?
Who has contentions? Who has complaints?
Who has needless wounds? Who has bloodshot eyes?
29To whom is woe? To whom is sorrow? To whom are quarrels? To whom is complaining? To whom are wounds without cause? To whom is dullness of eyes?
30Those who linger over wine,
who go to taste mixed drinks.
30To those lingering over the wine, to those going in search of mixed drink!
31Do not gaze at wine while it is red,
when it sparkles in the cup
and goes down smoothly.
31Do not look at the wine when it is red, when it gives forth its eye in the cup—it goes down with smoothness!
32In the end it bites like a snake
and stings like a viper.
32Its end is like a serpent—it bites, and like a viper it stings.
33Your eyes will see strange things,
and your mind will utter perversities.
33Your eyes will see strange things, and your heart will speak perverse things.
34You will be like one sleeping on the high seas
or lying on the top of a mast:
34And you will become like one lying down in the heart of the sea, and like one lying down on the top of a mast:
35“They struck me, but I feel no pain!
They beat me, but I did not know it!
When can I wake up
to search for another drink?”
35“They struck me; I did not become weak. They beat me; I did not know it. When I awake, I will add to seek it again?”