Study Desk

When you sit down to dine with a ruler, Consider carefully ^(F1)what is before you,

And put a knife to your throat If you are a ^(C1)person of great appetite.

Do not ^(C1)desire his delicacies, For it is deceptive food.

^(C1)Do not weary yourself to gain wealth; ^(F1)(C2)Stop dwelling on it.

^(F1)When you set your eyes on it, it is gone. For ^(C1)wealth certainly makes itself wings Like an eagle that flies toward the heavens.

^(C1)Do not eat the bread of ^(F1)a ^(C2)selfish person; Or desire his delicacies;

For as he ^(F1)thinks within himself, so he is. He says to you, "Eat and drink!" But ^(C1)his heart is not with you.

You will ^(C1)vomit up ^(F1)the morsel you have eaten And waste your ^(F2)compliments.

^(C1)Do not speak ^(F1)to be heard by a fool, For he will ^(C2)despise the wisdom of your words.

Do not move the ancient boundary Or ^(C1)go into the fields of the fatherless,

For their ^(C1)Redeemer is strong; ^(C2)He will plead their case against you.

Apply your heart to discipline, And your ears to words of knowledge.

^(C1)Do not withhold discipline from a child; Though you strike him with the rod, he will not die.

You shall strike him with the rod And ^(C1)rescue his soul from Sheol.

My son, if your heart is ^(C1)wise, My own heart also will be glad,

And my ^(F1)innermost being will rejoice When your lips speak ^(C1)what is right.

^(C1)Do not let your heart envy sinners, But live in ^(F1)the ^(C2)fear of the LORD ^(F2)always.

Certainly there is a ^(F1)(C1)future, And your ^(C2)hope will not be cut off.

Listen, my son, and ^(C1)be wise, And ^(C2)direct your heart in the way.

Do not be with ^(C1)heavy drinkers of wine, Or with ^(C2)gluttonous eaters of meat;

For the ^(C1)heavy drinker and the glutton will come to poverty, And ^(C2)drowsiness will clothe one with rags.

^(C1)Listen to your father, who fathered you, And ^(C2)do not despise your mother when she is old.

^(C1)Buy truth, and do not sell it, Get wisdom, instruction, and understanding.

The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice, And ^(C1)he who fathers a wise son will be glad in him.

Let your ^(C1)father and your mother be glad, And let her rejoice who gave birth to you.

^(C1)Give me your heart, my son, And let your eyes ^(F1)(C2)delight in my ways.

For a prostitute is a ^(C1)deep pit, And a ^(F1)(C2)strange woman is a narrow well.

Certainly she ^(C1)lurks as a robber, And increases the treacherous among mankind.

Who has ^(C1)woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has complaining? Who has wounds without cause? Who has red eyes?

Those who ^(C1)linger long over wine, Those who go to ^(F1)taste ^(C2)mixed wine.

Do not look at wine when it is red, When it ^(F1)sparkles in the cup, When it ^(C1)goes down smoothly;

In the end it ^(C1)bites like a snake And stings like a ^(C2)viper.

Your eyes will see strange things And your ^(F1)mind will ^(C1)say perverse things.

And you will be like one who lies down in the ^(F1)middle of the sea, Or like one who lies down on the top of a ^(F2)mast.

"They ^(C1)struck me, but I did not become ^(F1)ill; They beat me, but I did not know it. When will I awake? I will ^(C2)seek ^(F2)another drink."