–6–
1 When you are invited
to eat with a king,
use your best manners.
2 Don't go and stuff yourself!
That would be just the same
as cutting your throat.
3 Don't be greedy for all
of that fancy food!
It may not be so tasty.
–7–
4 Give up trying so hard
to get rich.
5 Your money flies away
before you know it,
just like an eagle
suddenly taking off.
–8–
6 Don't accept an invitation
to eat a selfish person's food,
no matter how good it is.
7 People like that take note
of how much you eat.
They say, “Take all you want!”
But they don't mean it.
8 Each bite will come back up,
and all your kind words
will be wasted.
–9–
9 Don't talk to fools—
they will make fun of you.
–10–
10 Don't move a boundary marker
or take the land
that belongs to orphans.
11 God All-Powerful is there
to defend them against you.
–11–
12 Listen to instruction
and do your best to learn.
–12–
13 Don't fail to correct
your children.
You won't kill them
by being firm,
14 and it may even
save their lives.
–13–
15 My children,
if you show good sense,
I will be happy,
16 and if you are truthful,
I will really be glad.
–14–
17 Don't be jealous of sinners,
but always honor the Lord.
18 Then you will truly have hope
for the future.
–15–
19 Listen to me, my children!
Be wise and have enough sense
to follow the right path.
20 Don't be a heavy drinker
or stuff yourself with food.
21 It will make you feel drowsy,
and you will end up poor
with only rags to wear.
–16–
22 Pay attention to your father,
and don't neglect your mother
when she grows old.
23 Invest in truth and wisdom,
discipline and good sense,
and don't part with them.
24 Make your father truly happy
by living right and showing
sound judgment.
25 Make your parents proud,
especially your mother.
–17–
26 My son, pay close attention,
and gladly follow
my example.
27 Bad women and unfaithful wives
are like a deep pit—
28 they are waiting to attack you
like a gang of robbers
with victim after victim.
–18–
29 Who is always in trouble?
Who argues and fights?
Who has cuts and bruises?
Whose eyes are red?
30 Everyone who stays up late,
having just one more drink.
31 Don't even look
at that colorful stuff
bubbling up in the glass!
It goes down so easily,
32 but later it bites
like a poisonous snake.
33 You will see weird things,
and your mind
will play tricks on you.
34 You will feel tossed about
like someone trying to sleep
on a ship in a storm.
35 You will be bruised all over,
without even remembering
how it all happened.
And you will lie awake asking,
“When will morning come,
so I can drink some more?”
1 When thou sittest to eate with a ruler, consider diligently what is before thee, 2 And put the knife to thy throte, if thou be a man giuen to the appetite. 3 Be not desirous of his deintie meates: for it is a deceiuable meate. 4 Trauaile not too much to be rich: but cease from thy wisdome. 5 Wilt thou cast thine eyes vpon it, which is nothing? for riches taketh her to her wings, as an eagle, and flyeth into the heauen. 6 Eate thou not the bread of him that hath an euil eye, neither desire his deintie meates. 7 For as though he thought it in his heart, so will hee say vnto thee, Eate and drinke: but his heart is not with thee. 8 Thou shalt vomit thy morsels that thou hast eaten, and thou shalt lose thy sweete wordes. 9 Speake not in the eares of a foole: for hee will despise the wisdome of thy wordes. 10 Remooue not the ancient boundes, and enter not into the fieldes of the fatherlesse. 11 For he that redeemeth them, is mightie: he will defend their cause against thee. 12 Apply thine heart to instruction, and thine eares to the wordes of knowledge. 13 Withhold not correction from the childe: if thou smite him with the rodde, he shall not die. 14 Thou shalt smite him with the rodde, and shalt deliuer his soule from hell. 15 My sonne, if thine heart be wise, mine heart shall reioyce, and I also. 16 And my reynes shall reioyce, when thy lips speake righteous things. 17 Let not thine heart bee enuious against sinners: but let it bee in the feare of the Lord continually. 18 For surely there is an ende, and thy hope shall not be cut off. 19 O thou my sonne, heare, and bee wise, and guide thine heart in the way. 20 Keepe not company with drunkards, nor with gluttons. 21 For the drunkard and the glutton shall bee poore, and the sleeper shalbe clothed with ragges. 22 Obey thy father that hath begotten thee, and despise not thy mother when she is olde. 23 Bye the trueth, but sell it not: likewise wisdome, and instruction, and vnderstanding. 24 The father of the righteous shall greatly reioyce, and hee that begetteth a wise childe, shall haue ioy of him. 25 Thy father and thy mother shall be glad, and she that bare thee shall reioyce. 26 My sonne, giue mee thine heart, and let thine eyes delite in my wayes. 27 For a whore is as a deepe ditche, and a strange woman is as a narrowe pitte. 28 Also she lyeth in wait as for a praye, and she increaseth the transgressers among men. 29 To whome is woe? to whome is sorowe? to whom is strife? to whom is murmuring? to whom are woundes without cause? and to whome is the rednesse of the eyes? 30 Euen to them that tarie long at the wine, to them that goe, and seeke mixt wine. 31 Looke not thou vpon the wine, when it is red, and when it sheweth his colour in the cup, or goeth downe pleasantly. 32 In the ende thereof it will bite like a serpent, and hurt like a cockatrise. 33 Thine eyes shall looke vpon strange women, and thine heart shall speake lewde things. 34 And thou shalt bee as one that sleepeth in the middes of the sea, and as hee that sleepeth in the toppe of the maste. 35 They haue stricken mee, shalt thou say, but I was not sicke: they haue beaten mee, but I knew not, when I awoke: therefore will I seeke it yet still.