1 If you sit at a table with a great man, beware of what is in front of you;
2 if your appetite is too great, put a knife to your throat.
3 Do not greedily desire his fine food for it is deceptive nourishment.
4 Do not wear yourself out trying to be rich, do not dwell on it.
5 Set your eyes on wealth and it no longer exists; it sprouts wings and flies into the sky like an eagle.
6 Do not eat with the wicked man or be greedy for his choice food.
7 All is ap pearance, for he plots in his heart. “Eat and drink,” he says but he is not to be trusted.
8 You will spit it out as soon as it is tasted and your words of praise will be wasted.
9 Do not speak with a fool; he will not be able to appreciate your remarks.
10 Do not move the ancient boundaries or take possession of the orphan’s land because his Avenger is powerful;
11 he will take sides against you.
12 Apply your heart to instruction and your ears to words of wisdom.
13 Do not hold back from correcting a youth; the rod will not kill him.
14 With several strokes, you save him from death.
15 My son, if your heart is wise, then my own heart is glad,
16 and my whole being will rejoice when you speak the truth.
17 Do not envy sinners but, each day, fear Yahweh; then you will have a future and
18 your hope will not be in vain.
19 Listen, my son, and you will be wise and you will make your heart go straight on its way.
20 Do not be one of those who get drunk with wine or who stuff themselves with meat,
21 since the drunkard and the glutton impoverish themselves and the sleepyhead is clothed in rags.
22 Listen to your father who begot you; do not despise your mother in her old age.
23 Acquire truth and never sell it; gain wisdom, discipline and discernment.
24 Happy the father of a virtuous man! How he will rejoice,
25 he who fathers a wise man! May your father and mother rejoice and may she who bore you be glad.
26 My son, give me your heart, that your eyes may delight in my ways.
27 You should know that the prostitute is a deep abyss and the unknown woman a narrow well.
28 Like a thief she lies in wait and she increases the sinners among men.
29 For whom are the cries and la ments? For whom the complaints and sighs? For whom the blows without reason? For whom the eyes which see double?
30 For those who abandon themselves to wine and go in search of the well-blended wine.
31 Do not consider the wine: how red it is and how sparkling the glass! How smoothly it flows!
32 In the end, it bites like a snake and stings like a viper.
33 Your eyes will see strange things and you will end up speaking nonsense.
34 You will be like a man asleep on the high seas or at the rudder: “They hit me but I am not hurt.
35 They beat me but I feel nothing. When will I wake up? I will go in search of more.”