1  When you sit down to eat with a ruler,

observe carefully what¹ is before you,

2  and put a knife to your throat

if you are given to appetite.

16  If you have ^ffound honey, eat ^gonly enough for you,

lest you have your fill of it and vomit it.

17  Let your foot be seldom in your neighbor’s house,

lest he have his fill of you and hate you.

17  Whoever meddles in a quarrel not his own

is like one who takes a passing dog by the ears.

18  Like a madman who throws ^ofirebrands, arrows, and death

19  is the man who deceives his neighbor

and says, “I am only joking!”

14  Whoever blesses his neighbor with a loud voice,

rising early in the morning,

will be counted as cursing.