Consider Diligently what is Before You

1When thou sittest to eat with a ruler, consider well who is before thee;

2and put a knife to thy throat, if thou be a man given to appetite.

3Be not desirous of his dainties; for they are deceitful food.

4Weary not thyself to become rich; cease from thine own intelligence:

5wilt thou set thine eyes upon it, it is gone; for indeed it maketh itself wings and it flieth away as an eagle towards the heavens.

6Eat thou not the food of him that hath an evil eye, neither desire thou his dainties.

7For as he thinketh in his soul, so is he. Eat and drink! will he say unto thee; but his heart is not with thee.

8Thy morsel which thou hast eaten must thou vomit up, and thou wilt have wasted thy sweet words.

9Speak not in the ears of a foolish [man], for he will despise the wisdom of thy words.

10Remove not the ancient landmark; and enter not into the fields of the fatherless:

11for their redeemer is mighty; he will plead their cause against thee.

12Apply thy heart unto instruction, and thine ears to the words of knowledge.

13Withhold not correction from the child; for [if] thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die:

14thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from Sheol.

15My son, if thy heart be wise, my heart shall rejoice, even mine;

16and my reins shall exult, when thy lips speak right things.

17Let not thy heart envy sinners, but [be thou] in the fear of Jehovah all the day;

18for surely there is a result, and thine expectation shall not be cut off.

19Thou, my son, hear and be wise, and direct thy heart in the way.

20Be not among winebibbers, among riotous eaters of flesh.

21For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty; and drowsiness clotheth with rags.

22Hearken unto thy father that begat thee, and despise not thy mother when she is old.

23Buy the truth, and sell it not; wisdom, and instruction, and intelligence.

24The father of a righteous [man] shall greatly rejoice, and he that begetteth a wise [son] shall have joy of him:

25let thy father and thy mother have joy, and let her that bore thee rejoice.

26My son, give me thy heart, and let thine eyes observe my ways.

27For a whore is a deep ditch; and a strange woman is a narrow pit.

28She also lieth in wait as a robber, and increaseth the treacherous among men.

29Who hath woe? Who hath sorrow? Who contentions? Who complaining? Who wounds without cause? Who redness of eyes?

30 -- They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to try mixed wine.

31Look not upon the wine when it is red, when it sparkleth in the cup, and goeth down smoothly:

32at the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder.

33Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thy heart shall speak froward things;

34and thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea, and as he that lieth down upon the top of a mast:

35 -- ''They have smitten me, [and] I am not sore; they have beaten me, [and] I knew it not. When shall I awake? I will seek it yet again.''