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¹ When thou sittest to eate with a ruler, consider diligently what is before thee. ² And put a knife to thy throate, if thou be a man giuen to appetite. ³ Be not desirous of his dainties: for they are deceitfull meate.

⁴ Labour not to bee rich: cease from thine owne wisedome. ⁵ Wilt thou set thine eyes vpon that which is not? for riches certainly make themselues wings, they fly away as an Eagle toward heauen.

⁶ Eate thou not the bread of him that hath an euill eye, neither desire thou his dainty meates. ⁷ For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eate, and drinke, sayth he to thee, but his heart is not with thee. ⁸ The morsell which thou hast eaten, shalt thou vomite vp, and loose thy sweete words.

⁹ Speake not in the eares of a foole: for hee will despise the wisedome of thy words.

¹⁰ Remoue not the old landmarke; and enter not into the fields of the fatherlesse. ¹¹ For their redeemer is mighty; he shall plead their cause with thee.

¹² Apply thine heart vnto instruction, and thine eares to the words of knowledge. ¹³ Withhold not correction from the child: for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die. ¹⁴ Thou shalt beate him with the rod, and shalt deliuer his soule from hell. ¹⁵ My sonne, if thine heart be wise, my heart shall reioyce, euen mine. ¹⁶ Yea my reines shall reioyce, when thy lippes speake right things.

¹⁷ Let not thine heart enuy sinners, but be thou in the feare of the Lord all the day long. ¹⁸ For surely there is an end, and thine expectation shall not be cut off.

¹⁹ Heare thou, my sonne, and be wise, and guide thine heart in the way. ²⁰ Be not amongst wine-bibbers; amongst riotous eaters of flesh. ²¹ For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to pouerty; and drousinesse shall cloath a man with ragges. ²² Hearken vnto thy father that begate thee, and despise not thy mother when she is old. ²³ Buy the trueth, and sell it not; also wisedome and instruction and vnderstanding. ²⁴ The father of the righteous shall greatly reioyce: and he that begetteth a wise child, 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 me thine heart, and let thine eyes obserue my wayes. ²⁷ For an whore is a deepe ditch; and a strange woman is a narrow pit. ²⁸ She also lyeth in wait as for a pray, and increaseth the transgressours among men.

²⁹ Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who hath babbling? who hath wounds without cause? who hath rednesse of eyes? ³⁰ They that tarry long at the wine, they that goe to seeke mixt wine. ³¹ Looke not thou vpon the wine when it is red, when it giueth his colour in the cup, when it moueth it selfe aright. ³² At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder. ³³ Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thine heart shall vtter peruerse things. ³⁴ Yea thou shalt be as he that lyeth downe in the midst of the sea, or as he that lyeth vpon the top of a mast. ³⁵ They haue striken me, shalt thou say, and I was not sicke: they haue beaten me, and I felt it not: when shall I awake? I will seeke it yet againe.