1. The stings of scorpions
Are better than relatives

2. So be gentle with their home
And grab them violently

3. Bitter in their dryness
And kinship from their hardness

4. Beware desiring from them
And satiating them

5. If you extend to them
Money or power

6. They overextend to you
And your hands yellow

7. They recall kinship
And increase blame

8. Looking down on the ruler
Making officials lonely

9. Ruining affairs
Wasting money

10. Preventing your punishment
Looking down on your reward

11. Disobeying orders
Belittling your rebuke

12. Doing as they please
Know that is sickness

13. Rejecting supervision
Deeming punishment ugly

14. Finding fault tiresome
Increasing contention

15. So employ the distant
The friendly advisor

16. And whoever you punish
Thinks you have supervised him