你若与官长坐席，要留意在你面前的是谁。
When you sit to eat with a ruler, / Consider carefully who is before you;

你若是贪食的，就当拿刀放在喉咙上。
And put a knife to your throat / If you are a man of great appetite.

不可贪恋他的美食，因为那是骗人的食物。
Do not desire his delicacies, / For they are deceitful food.

不要劳碌求财富，要停下自己的思虑。
Do not weary yourself to become rich; / Cease from your consideration of it.

你定睛在财富上，财富却消失了；因财富必长翅膀，如鹰向天飞去。
When you set your eyes upon it, it is gone; / For wealth certainly makes itself wings, / Like an eagle that flies toward heaven.

不要吃嫉妒之人的饭，也不要贪他的美食；
Do not eat the bread of one who is envious, / And do not desire his delicacies;

因为他里面怎样思量，他为人就是怎样。他虽对你说，请吃，请喝，他的心却与你相背。
For as he thinks within himself, so he is. / He says to you, Eat and drink; / But his heart is not with you.

你所吃的那点食物必吐出来，你所说的甘美言语也白说了。
You will vomit up the morsel which you have eaten, / And waste your pleasant words.

你不要说话给愚昧人听，因他必藐视你言语中的智慧。
Do not speak in the hearing of a fool, / For he will despise the wisdom of your words.

不可挪移古时的地界，也不可擅入孤儿的田地。
Do not remove the ancient boundary marker, / Or go into the fields of the fatherless;

因他们的救赎主大有能力；祂必向你为他们辨屈。
For their Redeemer is strong; / He will plead their cause against you.

你要留心领受训诲，侧耳听从知识的言语。
Apply your heart to instruction, / And your ears to words of knowledge.

不可不管教孩童；你用杖打他，他必不至于死。
Do not withhold correction from a child; / If you beat him with the rod, he will not die.

你若用杖打他，就可以救他的魂免下阴间。
If you beat him with the rod, / You will deliver his soul from Sheol.

我儿，你的心若有智慧，我的心也必喜乐。
My son, if your heart is wise, / My own heart will also rejoice;

你的嘴若说正直话，我的心肠也必欢乐。
My inward parts will also exult, / When your lips speak right things.

你的心不要嫉妒罪人，只要终日敬畏耶和华；
Do not let your heart envy sinners, / But live in the fear of Jehovah all day long;

因为末后必有好结局，你的指望必不至断绝。
For surely there is a latter end, / And your hope will not be cut off.

我儿，你当听，要有智慧，好在正路上引导你的心。
Listen, my son, and be wise, / And direct your heart in the way.

不要在醉酒的和贪吃肉的人中间来往；
Do not be among those who get drunk with wine, / Among gluttonous eaters of flesh;

因为醉酒贪食的，必致贫穷；好睡觉的，必穿破烂衣服。
For the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty, / And drowsiness will clothe them with rags.

你要听从生你的父亲；你母亲老了，也不可藐视她。
Listen to your father who begot you, / And do not despise your mother when she is old.

你当买真理，不可出卖；要买智慧、训诲和聪明。
Buy truth, and do not sell it; / Buy wisdom and instruction and understanding.

义人的父亲必大得快乐；人生智慧的儿子，必因他喜乐。
The father of the righteous man will greatly exult, / And he who begets a wise child will rejoice in him.

你要使父母欢喜，使生你的快乐。
Let your father and your mother rejoice, / And let her who bore you exult.

我儿，要将你的心归我；你的眼目也要守住我的道路。
My son, give me your heart, / And let your eyes observe my ways.

因为妓女是深坑，外女是窄井。
For a harlot is a deep pit, / And an adulteress is a narrow well.

她埋伏好像强盗，她使人间增添奸诈的人。
Indeed, she lies in wait as a robber, / And increases the number of the treacherous among men.

谁有祸患？谁有忧愁？谁有争斗？谁有怨言？谁无故受伤？谁眼目红赤？
Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? / Who has complaining? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes?

就是那流连饮酒，常去寻找调和酒的人。
Those who linger late over wine, / Those who go to seek out mixed wines.

你不可只看酒发红，在杯中闪烁，下咽舒畅；
Do not look upon the wine when it is red, / When it sparkles in the cup, / When it goes down smoothly;

它终久要如蛇咬你，如毒蛇刺你。
In the end it bites like a serpent, / And stings like an adder.

你眼必看见怪异的事，你心必发出乖谬的话；
Your eyes will see strange things, / And your heart will utter perverse things;

你必像躺在海中，或像卧在桅杆顶上。
And you will be like one who lies down while at sea, / Or like one who lies down at the top of a mast.

你必说，人打我，我却未受伤；人鞭打我，我竟不觉得；我几时清醒呢？我还要去寻酒。
They struck me, you will say, but I was not hurt; / They beat me, but I did not feel it; / When will I awake? I will seek another drink.