¹When you sit down to dine with a ruler,

carefully consider what is in front of you.

²Place a knife at your throat

to control your appetite.

³Don’t long for the ruler’s delicacies;

the food misleads.

⁴Don’t wear yourself out trying to get rich;

be smart enough to stop.

⁵When your eyes fly to wealth

it is gone; it grows wings

like an eagle and flies heavenward.

⁶Don’t eat food with stingy people;

don’t long for their delicacies,

⁷because they are like a hair in the throat.[#23.7 LXX; Heb uncertain]

They say to you, “Eat and drink!”

but they don’t mean it.

⁸You will eat scraps and vomit them out.

You will waste your pleasant words.

⁹Don’t speak in the ears of fools,

for they will scorn your insightful words.

¹⁰Don’t remove an ancient boundary marker;

don’t invade the fields of orphans,

¹¹for their redeemer is strong.

He will bring charges against you.

¹²Bring your mind to instruction,

your ear to knowledgeable sayings.

¹³Don’t withhold instruction from children;

if you strike them with a rod, they won’t die.

¹⁴Strike them with a rod,

and you will save their lives from the grave.

¹⁵My child, if your heart is wise,

then my heart too will be happy.

¹⁶My inner being will rejoice

when your lips speak with integrity.

¹⁷Don’t let your heart envy sinners,

but fear the LORD constantly;

¹⁹Listen, my child, and be wise!

Keep your mind straight on the path.

²⁰Don’t hang out with those who get drunk on wine

or those who eat too much meat,

²¹because drunks and gluttons will be impoverished;

their stupor will clothe them in rags.

²²Listen to your father, who gave you life;

don’t despise your elderly mother.

²³Buy truth and don’t sell it;

buy wisdom, instruction, and understanding.

²⁴The father of the righteous will be very happy;

the one who gives life to the wise will rejoice.

²⁵Your father and your mother will rejoice;

she who gave you birth will be happy.

²⁶My child, give your mind to me

and let your eyes keep to my path.

²⁷A prostitute is a deep pit,

and a foreign woman is a narrow well.

²⁸Indeed, she ambushes like a robber

and increases the number of the faithless.

²⁹Who is suffering?

Who is uneasy?

Who has arguments?

Who has complaints?

Who has unnecessary wounds?

Who has glazed eyes?—

³¹Don’t look at wine when it is red,

when it sparkles in the cup,

going down smoothly.

³²In the end, it bites like a snake

and poisons like a viper.

³³Your eyes will see strange things,

and your heart will speak distorted words.

³⁴You will be like one who lies down while out on the sea[#23.34 Or in the heart of the sea]

or one who lies on top of a mast.

³⁵“Though hit, I feel no pain;

though beaten up, I don’t know anything about it.

When I wake up,

I’ll look for wine again!”