1
When thou sittest to eate with a noble man, consider diligently what is set before thee.
2
Measure thyne appetite if it be gredyly set.
3
Be not desirous of his daintie meates, for meate begyleth and deceaueth.
4
Take not ouer great trauayle to be riche, beware of suche a purpose.
5
Wylt thou set thyne eye vpon the thing which sodenly vanisheth away?
For riches make them selues wynges, and take their flight lyke an Egle into the ayre.
6
Eate thou not the bread of hym that hath an euyll eye: neither desire thou his daintie meate.
7
For as though he thought it in his heart, he saith, eate and drinke: where as his heart is not with thee.
8
The morsels that thou hast eaten shalt thou parbreake, and loose those sweete wordes.
9
Tell nothing into the eares of a foole: for he wyll despise the wysdome of thy wordes.
10
Remoue not the olde lande marke, and come not within the fielde of the fatherlesse:
11
For their redeemer is mightie, euen he shall defend their cause against thee.
12
Applye thyne heart vnto correction, and thyne eare to the wordes of knowledge.
13
Withholde not correction from the chylde: for if thou beatest hym with the rodde, he shall not dye thereof:
14
If thou smyte hym with the rodde, thou shalt deliuer his soule from hell.
15
My sonne if thy heart receaue wysdome, my heart also shall reioyce:
16
Yea my raynes shalbe very glad, if thy lippes speake the thing that is right.
17
Let not thyne heart be ielous to folowe sinners, but kepe thee styll in the feare of the Lorde all the day long:
18
For veryly there is an ende, and thy pacient abiding shall not be cut of.
19
My sonne geue eare and be wyse, and set straight thyne heart in the way [of the Lorde.]
20
Kepe not company with wine bibbers, and riotous eaters of fleshe:
21
For suche as be drunkardes and riotours shall come to pouertie: and he that is geuen to muche sleepe, shall go with a ragged coate.
22
Geue eare vnto thy father that begat thee, and despise not thy mother when she is olde.
23
Purchase trueth, wysdome, nurture, and vnderstanding, and sell them not.
24
The father of the righteous shall greatly reioyce: and he that begetteth a wyse chylde, shall haue ioy of hym.
25
[Do so that] thy father and mother may be glad of thee, and that she that bare thee may reioyce.
26
My sonne geue me thyne heart, and let thyne eyes haue pleasure in my wayes:
27
For an whore is a deepe graue, and a straunge woman is a narowe pit.
28
She lyeth in wayte as for a pray, and increaseth the transgressours amongst men.
29
Who hath wo?
who hath sorowe?
who hath strife?
who hath brawling?
and who hath woundes without a cause?
30
Or who hath red eyes?
euen they that be euer at the wine, & seeke excesse.
31
Looke not thou vpon the wine howe red it is, and what a colour it geueth in the glasse:
32
It goeth downe sweetely, but at the last it byteth like a serpent, and stingeth lyke an adder.
33
Thyne eyes shall beholde straunge women, and thyne heart shall vtter lewde thinges:
34
Yea thou shalt be as though thou layest in the middest of the sea, or slepest vppon the top of the maste of a ship.
35
They haue beaten me [shalt thou say] and I was not sicke, they haue stricken me, and I felt it not: When I am well wakened, I wil go to the drinke again.