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.

3  Do not desire his delicacies,

for they are deceptive food.

4  ^bDo not toil to acquire wealth;

be discerning enough to desist.

5  When your eyes light on it, it is gone,

for ^csuddenly it sprouts wings,

flying like an eagle toward heaven.

6  Do not eat the bread of a man who is stingy;²

do not desire his delicacies,

7  for he is like one who is inwardly calculating.³

“Eat and drink!” he says to you,

but his heart is not with you.

8  You will vomit up the morsels that you have eaten,

and waste your pleasant words.

9  ^dDo not speak in the hearing of a fool,

for he will despise the good sense of your words.

10  ^eDo not move an ancient landmark

or enter the fields of the fatherless,

11  for ^ftheir Redeemer is strong;

he will ^gplead their cause against you.

12  Apply your heart to ^hinstruction

and your ear to words of knowledge.

13  ⁱDo not withhold discipline from a child;

if you strike him with a rod, he will not die.

14  If you strike him with the rod,

you will save his soul from Sheol.

15  My son, if your heart is wise,

my heart too will be glad.

16  My inmost being⁴ will exult

when your lips speak what is right.

17  Let not your heart ^jenvy sinners,

but continue in the fear of the Lord all the day.

18  ^kSurely there is a future,

and your hope will not be cut off.