1
When thou sittest to eat with a ruler, consider diligently what is before
thee:
2
And put a knife to thy throat, if thou be a man given to appetite.
3
Be not desirous of his dainties: for they are deceitful meat.
4
Labour not to be rich: cease from thine own wisdom.
5
Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not? for riches certainly make
themselves wings; they fly away as an eagle toward heaven.
6Eat thou not the bread
of him that hath an evil eye, neither desire thou his dainty
meats:
7
For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to
thee; but his heart is not with thee.
8
The morsel which thou hast eaten shalt thou vomit up, and lose thy sweet
words.
9
Speak not in the ears of a fool: for he will despise the wisdom of thy words.
10
Remove not the old landmark; and enter not into the fields of the
fatherless:
11
For their redeemer is mighty; he shall plead their cause with thee.
Don't eat the bread of a person with an evil eye.
12Apply thine heart unto
instruction, and thine ears to the words of knowledge.
Try to learn as much as you can.
13Withhold not
correction from the child: for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall
not die.
Beat your children with a rod. It won't kill them.
14Thou shalt beat him
with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell.
15
My son, if thine heart be wise, my heart shall rejoice, even mine.
And you'll deliver their souls from hell. [1]
16Yea, my reins shall rejoice, when thy lips speak right things.
My kidneys will rejoice. [2]
17
Let not thine heart envy sinners: but be thou in the fear of the LORD all
the day long.
18
For surely there is an end; and thine expectation shall not be cut off.
19
Hear thou, my son, and be wise, and guide thine heart in the way.
Fear God all day long. [3]
20Be not among winebibbers; among riotous eaters of flesh:
21
For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty: and drowsiness
shall clothe a man with rags.
Stay away from wine-drinkers [4] and riotous flesh-eaters. [5].
22Hearken unto thy father that begat thee, and despise not thy mother when
she is old.
Listen to your father,
and don't despise your mother when she is old. [6]
23Buy the truth, and sell it not; also wisdom, and instruction, and
understanding.
Value truth, wisdom, instruction, and understanding. [7]
24
The father of the righteous shall greatly rejoice: and he that begetteth a
wise child shall have joy of him.
25
Thy father and thy mother shall be glad, and she that bare thee shall
rejoice.
26
My son, give me thine heart, and let thine eyes observe my ways.
The father of the righteous [8] shall rejoice.
27For a whore is a deep ditch; and a strange woman is a narrow pit.
A whore is a deep ditch, and a strange woman is a narrow pit.
28She also lieth in wait as for a prey, and increaseth the transgressors among men.
They lie in wait trying to capture men.
29Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who hath babbling?
who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes?
30They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine.
Those who drink too much wine have woe, sorrow, contentions, babbling, redness of the eyes, and wounds without cause.
[9]
31Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in
the cup, when it moveth itself aright.
Don't look at the wine while it is red.
32At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder.
Red wine bites like a serpent and stings like an adder.
33Thine eyes shall
behold strange women, and thine heart shall utter perverse things.
34
Yea, 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.
35
They have stricken me, shalt thou say, and I was not sick; they have
beaten me, and I felt it not: when shall I awake? I will seek it yet again.
If you drink it, you'll see strange women and utter perverse things.