1 When you sit down to eat with a ruler,
Consider carefully what is before you;

2 And put a knife to your throat
If you are a man given to appetite.

3 Do not desire his delicacies,
For they are deceptive food.

4 ^aDo not overwork to be rich;
^bBecause of your own understanding, cease! ‡

5 ¹Will you set your eyes on that which is not?
For riches certainly make themselves wings;
They fly away like an eagle toward heaven. ‡

6 Do not eat the bread of ^a1a miser,
Nor desire his delicacies; ‡

7 For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.
“Eat and drink!” ^ahe says to you,
But his heart is not with you. ‡

8 The morsel you have eaten, you will vomit up,
And waste your pleasant words.