1. |
When thou sittest to eat with a ruler, Thou considerest diligently that which `is' before thee, |
2. |
And thou hast put a knife to thy throat, If thou `art' a man of appetite. |
3. |
Have no desire to his dainties, seeing it `is' lying food. |
4. |
Labour not to make wealth, From thine own understanding cease, Dost thou cause thine eyes to fly upon it? Then it is not. |
5. |
For wealth maketh to itself wings, As an eagle it flieth to the heavens. |
6. |
Eat not the bread of an evil eye, And have no desire to his dainties, |
7. |
For as he hath thought in his soul, so `is' he, `Eat and drink,' saith he to thee, And his heart `is' not with thee. |
8. |
Thy morsel thou hast eaten thou dost vomit up, And hast marred thy words that `are' sweet. |
9. |
In the ears of a fool speak not, For he treadeth on the wisdom of thy words. |
10. |
Remove not a border of olden times, And into fields of the fatherless enter not, |
11. |
For their Redeemer `is' strong, He doth plead their cause with thee. |
12. |
Bring in to instruction thy heart, And thine ear to sayings of knowledge. |
13. |
Withhold not from a youth chastisement, When thou smitest him with a rod he dieth not. |
14. |
Thou with a rod smitest him, And his soul from Sheol thou deliverest. |
15. |
My son, if thy heart hath been wise, My heart rejoiceth, even mine, |
16. |
And my reins exult when thy lips speak uprightly. |
17. |
Let not thy heart be envious at sinners, But -- in the fear of Jehovah all the day. |
18. |
For, is there a posterity? Then thy hope is not cut off. |
19. |
Hear thou, my son, and be wise, And make happy in the way thy heart, |
20. |
Be not thou among quaffers of wine, Among gluttonous ones of flesh, |
21. |
For the quaffer and glutton become poor, And drowsiness clotheth with rags. |
22. |
Hearken to thy father, who begat thee, And despise not thy mother when she hath become old. |
23. |
Truth buy, and sell not, Wisdom, and instruction, and understanding, |
24. |
The father of the righteous rejoiceth greatly, The begetter of the wise rejoiceth in him. |
25. |
Rejoice doth thy father and thy mother, Yea, she that bare thee is joyful. |
26. |
Give, my son, thy heart to me, And let thine eyes watch my ways. |
27. |
For a harlot `is' a deep ditch, And a strange woman `is' a strait pit. |
28. |
She also, as catching prey, lieth in wait, And the treacherous among men she increaseth. |
29. |
Who hath wo? who hath sorrow? Who hath contentions? who hath plaint? Who hath wounds without cause? Who hath redness of eyes? |
30. |
Those tarrying by the wine, Those going in to search out mixed wine. |
31. |
See not wine when it showeth itself red, When it giveth in the cup its colour, It goeth up and down through the upright. |
32. |
Its latter end -- as a serpent it biteth, And as a basilisk it stingeth. |
33. |
Thine eyes see strange women, And thy heart speaketh perverse things. |
34. |
And thou hast been as one lying down in the heart of the sea, And as one lying down on the top of a mast. |
35. |
`They smote me, I have not been sick, They beat me, I have not known. When I awake -- I seek it yet again!' |