Beginning

22 A shem tov is rather to be desired than osher rav, and chen (grace) rather than kesef and zahav.

² The oisher (rich man) and the rahsh (pauper) have this in common: Hashem is the Oseh (Maker) of them all.

³ A prudent man foreseeth the ra’ah, and hideth himself, but the naïve trudge on, and are punished.

⁴ By anavah (humility) and the Yirat Hashem are osher, and kavod, and chayyim.

⁵ Thorns and pachim (snares) are in the derech of the crooked; he that is shomer over his nefesh shall be far from them.

⁶ Train up a na’ar in the derech (road) he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it.

⁷ The oisher ruleth over the rahshim (paupers), and the loveh (borrower, debtor) is eved (slave) to the ish malveh (lender).

⁸ He that soweth iniquity shall reap aven (iniquity), and the shevet (rod) of his wrath shall disappear.

⁹ He that hath a tov ayin (generous eye) shall have a bracha; for he giveth of his lechem to the dal (poor).

¹⁰ Cast out the scoffer, and contention shall leave; indeed, strife and kalon (shame) shall cease.

¹¹ He that loveth tahor lev (a pure heart), for the chen (grace) on his sfatayim (lips) the Melech shall be his re’a (friend).

¹² The eynayim of Hashem preserve da’as, and He overthroweth the devarim of the boged (unfaithful, treacherous, traitor).

¹³ The atzel (sluggard, lazy one) saith, There is an ari (lion) outside; I shall be murdered in the streets.

¹⁴ The peh (mouth) of zarot (strange women) is a deep pit; he that is under the wrath of Hashem shall fall therein.

¹⁵ Folly is bound in the lev na’ar, but the shevet musar (rod of correction) shall drive it far from him.

¹⁶ He that oppresseth the dal (poor) in order to increase, and he that giveth to the oisher, shall surely come to machsor (poverty, want).

¹⁷ Bow down thine ozen, and hear the devarim of chachamim, and apply thine lev (mind, heart) unto my da’as.

¹⁸ For it is a pleasant thing if thou be shomer over them within thee; they shall therewith abide ready upon thy sfatayim (lips).

¹⁹ That thy trust may be in Hashem, I have made thee know this yom, even thee!

²⁰ Have not I written to thee shloshim (thirty sayings) in mo’etzot (counsels) and da’as,

²¹ That I might make thee know the certain truth of the words of emes; that thou mightest bring back words of emes to them that send thee?

²² Exploit not the dal (poor), because he is dal (poor); neither oppress the oni (afflicted) in the sha’ar,

²³ For Hashem will plead their cause, and plunder the nefesh of those that plundered them.

²⁴ Make no friendship with a ba’al af (angry man), and with an ish chemot (man of wrath) thou shalt not go,

²⁵ Lest thou learn his orkhot (ways), and take a mokesh (snare) for thy nefesh.

²⁶ Be not thou one of them that shake hands in a pledge, or of them that are collateral for masha’ot (debts, loans).

²⁷ If thou hast nothing with which to pay, why should he take away thy mishkav (bed) from under thee?

²⁸ Remove not the gevul olam (ancient landmark), which avoteicha have set.

²⁹ Seest thou an ish mahir (diligent, one who excells) in his work? He shall stand before melachim; he shall not stand before obscure men.

23 When thou sittest to dine with a moshel (ruler), consider diligently what is before thee,

² And put a sakin (knife) to thy throat, if thou be a ba’al nefesh (man given to gluttony).

³ Be not desirous of his delicacies, for they are lechem kezavim (deceitful food).

⁴ Overwork not to get rich; cease from thine own binah (understanding).

⁵ Wilt thou let thine eynayim fly after that which is not? For such [wealth] certainly sprouts kenafayim (wings); they fly away as a nesher (eagle) toward Shomayim.

⁶ Eat thou not the lechem of him that hath a rah ayin (evil eye, i.e., a miser), neither desire thou his delicacies;

⁷ For as he reckoneth in his nefesh, so is he. Eat and drink, saith he to thee, but his lev is not with thee.

⁸ The morsel which thou hast eaten shalt thou vomit up, and lose thy pleasant devarim.

⁹ Speak not in the oznayim of a kesil (fool), for he will despise the seichel of thy words.

¹⁰ Remove not the gevul olam (ancient landmark); and enter not into the sadot of the yetomim (fatherless ones, orphans),

¹¹ For their Go’el is chazak (strong); He shall plead their cause against thee.

¹² Apply thine lev unto musar, and thine oznayim to the words of da’as.

¹³ Withhold not musar (correction) from the na’ar (child), for if thou spank him with the shevet, he shall not die.

¹⁴ Thou shalt spank him with the shevet, and shalt save his nefesh from Sheol.

¹⁵ Beni (my son), if thine lev be chacham, my own lev shall have simchah.

¹⁶ Indeed, my inmost being shall rejoice, when thy sfatayim (lips) speak meisharim (upright things).

¹⁷ Let not thine lev envy chatta’im, but be thou in the Yirat Hashem kol hayom.

¹⁸ For surely there is an acharit (latter end, future), and thine tikvah shall not be cut off.

¹⁹ Hear thou, beni (my son), and be chacham, and guide thine lev straight on the derech.

²⁰ Be not among yayin gluttons; among gluttonous eaters of basar,

²¹ For the drunkard and the zolel (glutton) shall come to poverty, and drowsiness shall clothe with rags.

²² Pay heed unto avicha that fathered thee, and despise not immecha when she is old.

²³ Buy emes, and sell it not; also chochmah, and musar, and binah (understanding).

²⁴ Avi tzaddik (the father of a righteous one) shall greatly rejoice, and he that fathereth a chacham shall have simchah in him.

²⁵ Avicha and immecha shall be glad, and she that bore thee shall rejoice.

²⁶ Beni (my son), give me thine lev, and let thine eynayim delight in my drakhim.

²⁷ For a zonah is a deep pit, and a nokhriyah (strange woman, foreign woman, seductress, unfaithful wife) is a narrow well.

²⁸ She also lieth in wait like a road bandit, and increaseth the bogedim (unfaithful) among adam (mankind).

²⁹ Who hath oy (woe)? Who hath sorrow? Who hath strifes? Who hath complaint? Who hath needless wounds? Who hath bloodshot eynayim?

³⁰ They that tarry long at the yayin, they that turn in to sample mixed wine.

³¹ Stare not thou into the yayin when it is red, when it sparkles in the kos (cup), when it goeth down smoothly.

³² At the acharit (latter end, future) it biteth like a nachash, and stingeth with venomous poisons like a viper.

³³ Thine eynayim shall behold zarot (strange women), and thine lev shall utter perverse things.

³⁴ Indeed, thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the lev yam (heart of the sea), or as he that lieth upon the top of a mast.

³⁵ They have stricken me, shalt thou say, and I was not hurt; they have beaten me, and I felt it not. Mosai (when) shall I awake? I will seek yet another drink.