Consider Diligently what is Before You

1When thou sittest to eat with a ruler, consider diligently him that is before thee;

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

3Be not desirous of his dainties; seeing they are deceitful meat.

4Weary not thyself to be rich; cease from thine own wisdom.

5Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not? for riches certainly make themselves wings, like an eagle that flieth toward heaven.

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

7For as he reckoneth within himself, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee.

8The morsel which thou hast eaten shalt thou vomit up, and lose thy sweet words.

9Speak not in the hearing of a fool; 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 strong; he shall plead their cause against thee.

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

13Withhold not correction from the child: for if thou beat 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 thine heart be wise, my heart shall be glad, even mine:

16Yea, my reins shall rejoice, when thy lips speak right things.

17Let not thine heart envy sinners: but be thou in the fear of the LORD all the day long:

18For surely there is a reward; and thy hope shall not be cut off.

19Hear thou, my son, and be wise, and guide thine heart in the way.

20Be not among winebibbers; among gluttonous eaters of flesh:

21For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty: and drowsiness shall clothe a man 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; yea, wisdom, and instruction, and understanding.

24The father of the righteous shall greatly rejoice: and he that begetteth a wise child shall have joy of him.

25Let thy father and thy mother be glad, and let her that bare thee rejoice.

26My son, give me thine heart, and let thine eyes delight in my ways.

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

28Yea, she lieth in wait as a robber, and increaseth the treacherous among men.

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

30They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek out mixed wine.

31Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth its colour in the cup, when it goeth down smoothly.

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

33Thine eyes shall behold strange things, and thine heart shall utter froward things.

34Yea, thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea, or as he that lieth upon the top of a mast.

35They have stricken me, shalt thou say, and I was not hurt; they have beaten me, and I felt it not: when shall I awake? I will seek it yet again.