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 cDo not desire his delicacies,
for they are deceptive food.
17 Let not your heart tenvy sinners,
but continue in uthe fear of the Lord all the day.
18 Surely vthere is a future,
and your whope will not be cut off.
19 Hear, my son, and xbe wise,
and ydirect your heart in the way.
or among agluttonous eaters of meat,
21 for the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty,
and bslumber will clothe them with rags.
29 lWho has woe? Who has sorrow?
Who has strife? Who has complaining?
Who has mwounds without cause?
Who has nredness of eyes?
30 Those who otarry long over wine;
those who go to try pmixed wine.
31 Do not look at wine when it is red,
when it sparkles in the cup
and goes down smoothly.
32 In the end it qbites like a serpent
and stings like an adder.
33 Your eyes will see strange things,
and your heart utter rperverse things.
34 You will be like one who lies down in the midst of the sea,
like one who lies on the top of a mast.1
35 “They sstruck me,” you will say,2 “but I was not hurt;
they beat me, but I did not feel it.
When shall I awake?
I tmust have another drink.”