1. When you sit down to dine with a ruler, Consider well who is before you.
2. Thrust a knife into your gullet If you have a large appetite.
3. Do not crave for his dainties, For they are counterfeit food.
4. Do not toil to gain wealth; Have the sense to desist.
5. You see it, then it is gone; It grows wings and flies away, Like an eagle, heavenward.
6. Do not eat of a stingy man's food; Do not crave for his dainties;
7. He is like one keeping accounts; "Eat and drink," he says to you, But he does not really mean it.
8. The morsel you eat you will vomit; You will waste your courteous words.
9. Do not speak to a dullard, For he will disdain your sensible words.
10. Do not remove ancient boundary stones; Do not encroach upon the field of orphans,
11. For they have a mighty Kinsman, And He will surely take up their cause with you.
12. Apply your mind to discipline And your ears to wise sayings.
13. Do not withhold discipline from a child; If you beat him with a rod he will not die.
14. Beat him with a rod And you will save him from the grave.
15. My son, if your mind gets wisdom, My mind, too, will be gladdened.
16. I shall rejoice with all my heart When your lips speak right things.
17. Do not envy sinners in your heart, But only God-fearing men, at all times,
18. For then you will have a future, And your hope will never fail.
19. Listen, my son, and get wisdom; Lead your mind in a [proper] path.
20. Do not be of those who guzzle wine, Or glut themselves on meat;
21. For guzzlers and gluttons will be impoverished, And drowsing will clothe you in tatters.
22. Listen to your father who begot you; Do not disdain your mother when she is old.
23. Buy truth and never sell it, And wisdom, discipline, and understanding.
24. The father of a righteous man will exult; He who begets a wise son will rejoice in him.
25. Your father and mother will rejoice; She who bore you will exult.
26. Give your mind to me, my son; Let your eyes watch my ways.
27. A harlot is a deep pit; A forbidden woman is a narrow well.
28. She too lies in wait as if for prey, And destroys the unfaithful among men.
29. Who cries, "Woe!" who, "Alas!"; Who has quarrels, who complaints; Who has wounds without cause; Who has bleary eyes?
30. Those whom wine keeps till the small hours, Those who gather to drain the cups.
31. Do not ogle that red wine As it lends its color to the cup, As it flows on smoothly;
32. In the end, it bites like a snake; It spits like a basilisk.
33. Your eyes will see strange sights; Your heart will speak distorted things.
34. You will be like one lying in bed on high seas, Like one lying on top of the rigging.
35. "They struck me, but I felt no hurt; They beat me, but I was unaware; As often as I wake, I go after it again."
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