When you sit down to eat with a ruler, consider carefully what is before you;
2 And put a knife to your throat if you are a man given to appetite.
3 Do not desire his delicacies, for they are deceptive food.
4 Do not overwork to be rich; because of your own understanding, cease!
5 Will you set your eyes on that which is not? for riches certainly make themselves wings;
they fly away like an eagle toward heaven.
6 Do not eat the bread of a miser, nor desire his delicacies;
7 For as he thinks in his heart, so is he. “Eat and drink!” he says to you, but his heart is not with you.
8 The morsel you have eaten, you will vomit up, and waste your pleasant words.
9 Do not speak in the hearing of a fool, for he will despise the wisdom of your words.
10 Do not remove the ancient landmark, nor enter the fields of the fatherless;
11 For their Redeemer is mighty; He will plead their cause against you.
12 Apply your heart to instruction, and your ears to words of knowledge.
13 Do not withhold correction from a child, for if you beat him with a rod, he will not die.
14 You shall beat him with a rod, and deliver his soul from hell.
15 My son, if your heart is wise, My heart will rejoice—indeed, I myself;
16 Yes, my inmost being will rejoice when your lips speak right things.