1. When you sit to dine with a ruler, note well what is before you,
2. and put a knife to your throat if you are given to gluttony.
3. Do not crave his delicacies, for that food is deceptive.
4. Do not wear yourself out to get rich; do not trust your own cleverness.
5. Cast but a glance at riches, and they are gone, for they will surely sprout wings and fly off to the sky like an eagle.
6. Do not eat the food of a begrudging host, do not crave his delicacies;
7. for he is the kind of person who is always thinking about the cost. “Eat and drink,” he says to you, but his heart is not with you.
8. You will vomit up the little you have eaten and will have wasted your compliments.
9. Do not speak to fools, for they will scorn your prudent words.
10. Do not move an ancient boundary stone or encroach on the fields of the fatherless,
11. for their Defender is strong; he will take up their case against you.
12. Apply your heart to instruction and your ears to words of knowledge.
13. Do not withhold discipline from a child; if you punish them with the rod, they will not die.