²⁸ Do not move an ancient boundary stone
    set up by your ancestors.

²⁹ Do you see someone skilled in their work?
    They will serve before kings;
    they will not serve before officials of low rank.

23 When you sit to dine with a ruler,
    note well what^[a] 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 stingy host,
    do not crave his delicacies;
⁷ for he is the kind of person
    who is always thinking about the cost.^[b]
‘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.