When thou sittest to eat with a ruler consider diligently what is before thee:

When you sit down to dine with a ruler, know well what is before you [(i.e., whether he is parsimonious or generous)].

and put a knife to thy throat, if thou be a man given to appetite.

And "put a knife to your cheek" if you hunger [i.e., If you see that he is niggardly, restrain yourself and do not eat with him].

Be not desirous of his dainties: for they are deceitful food.

Do not lust for his delicacies, for it is "deceitful" bread [i.e., not freely given.]

Do not toil to be rich: because thou hast understanding, forbear.

Do not weary yourself to grow rich [i.e., to amass "bundles" of learning]; forbear from your own understanding.

Wilt thou set thy eyes upon it? it is already gone: for riches suddenly make themselves wings; they fly away like an eagle towards the sky.

Should you blink your eyes upon it [(such "undigested" learning)], it is no longer there. For it makes wings for itself like an eagle and flies heavenwards.

Do not eat the bread of him who has an evil eye, nor desire his dainties.

Do not eat bread of the miserly, and do not lust for his delicacies.

For as one that calculates in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, says he to thee; but his heart is not with thee.

For like gall poured into his soul, so is this [(your eating of his bread)]. "Eat and drink," he will tell you, and his heart will not be with you.

The morsel which thou hast eaten shalt thou vomit up, and lose thy sweet words.

The loaf that you have eaten you will vomit up [(out of shame)], and you will have wasted your words of ingratiation.

Do not speak in the ears of a fool: for he will despise the wisdom of thy words.

Speak not in the ears of a fool, for he will shame the wisdom of your words.

Do not remove the old landmark; and do not enter the fields of the fatherless:

Do not move back the long-standing boundary marker, and do not enter the orphans' fields [i.e., do not take their allotted portion of the grain].

for their redeemer is mighty; he shall plead their cause with thee.

For their Redeemer is strong, and He will quarrel their quarrel with you.

Apply thy heart to instruction, and thy ears to the words of knowledge.

Render up your heart for chastisement, and your ears for words of wisdom.

Do not withhold correction from the child: for if thou beatest him with the rod, he will not die.

Do not withhold chastisement from the youth. If you strike him with the rod, he will not die.

Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from She᾽ol.

You will strike him with the rod, and you will rescue his soul from Sheol.

My son, if thy heart is wise, my heart too shall rejoice:

My son, when your heart becomes wise, then my heart, too, will rejoice.

and my reins shall rejoice, when thy lips speak right things.

And my reins will rejoice when your lips speak righteous words [(in consequence of your heart's growing wise)].

Let not thy heart envy sinners: but be in the fear of the Lord all the day long.

Let your heart not envy [the prosperity of] sinners [and incline you to emulate their ways], but [preoccupy yourself] with fear of the L-rd all the day.

For surely there is a future; and thy expectation shall not be cut off.

For thereby it shall endure and your hope will not be cut off.

Hear, my son, and be wise, and guide thy heart in the way.

Hear, my son, and you will grow wise, and [then] you may walk in the way of your heart [without injury].

Be not among winebibbers; among gluttonous eaters of meat:

Do not be among the guzzlers of wine, among the gorgers of meat for themselves.

for the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty: and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags.

For the guzzler and the gorger will be poor, and slumber will clothe [you] in tatters.

Hearken to thy father who begot thee, and despise not thy mother when she is old.

Give ear to your father, who begot you, and do not scorn your mother's [words], though she be old.

Buy the truth, and sell it not; also wisdom, and instruction, and understanding.

Purchase truth [if you must pay for it], but [even if you have paid for it] do not sell it, [(but teach it gratis)] — wisdom, reproof, and understanding.

The father of the righteous shall greatly rejoice: and he who begets a wise child shall have joy of him.

The father of the righteous one will rejoice. He who engenders wisdom [in the heart of another] will rejoice in him.

Let thy father and thy mother be glad, and let her who bore thee rejoice.

Your father and mother will rejoice, and he who engenders [wisdom in your heart] will rejoice.

My son, give me thy heart, and let thy eyes observe my ways.

Give, my son, your heart to me, and your eyes will heed my paths.

For a harlot is a deep ditch; and an alien woman is a narrow pit.

For the harlot is a deep pit, and the strange woman is a strait well.

She also lies in wait like a robber, and increases the transgressors among men.

She, too, lurks [to snatch] suddenly and multiplies traitors among men [i.e., heretics among Israel].

Who cries, Woe? who cries, Alas? who has quarrels? who has complaints? who has causeless injuries? who has redness of eyes?

Who cries "Oh!" Who cries "Woe!" One who is embattled [with men], one who talks [too much]. Who is wounded for naught? Whose eyes are bloodshot?

They who tarry long at the wine; they who go to seek mixed wine.

Those who sit late over wine, those who make inquiries over [choice] blends.

Look not upon the wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup, when it goes down smoothly:

Do not look at the redness of wine; for to him who fixes his eye on the goblet, all paths are just [i.e., all transgressions seem "straight" to him].

at the last it bites like a snake, and stings like a viper.

His end is as that [of him] bitten by a snake, stung by a serpent.

Thy eyes shall behold strange things, and thy heart shall utter perverse words.

[(If you become drunk)] your eyes will ogle strange women [i.e., harlots], and your heart will speak contraries.

Yea, thou shalt be like one who lies down in the midst of the sea, or like one who lies upon the top of a mast.

And you will be [unhinged] like one lying in the heart of the sea, like one lying on the top of the mast.

They have struck me, but I was not hurt; they have beaten me, and I felt it not: when shall I awake? I will seek it yet again.

[(When you start coming out of your stupor you will say:) "They smote me, but I did not sicken; they beat me, but I did not know it. When I wake up, I will ask for more and more."