The advice is to a son as the father retires from office, but this is a framing device, since grammatically, in the numbered sections, he speaks to each class or type of person directly, not to his son. The numbered sections are often thematically related, but shift among types or classes of people addressed. Here is a Wikipedia link, although now a person is deemed stupid rather than smart for this. Anyway, my method did not involve reading the Wikipedia article, but to assemble 3 distinct, scholarly English translations, and read 5 commentaries, and try to make it sound clear. The ingenuity of these writings, combined with their obscurity, might lead you to conclude I am a fabulist, but these are astounding texts.

1 is very beautiful, and all the advice is generally very egalitarian. 2, 3, and 4 are about how to argue, with advice divided according to whether you are equals, or richer or poorer. 7 is, I swear to Ptah, about table manners, and is far more convincing on the merits of the whole enterprise than Tiffanies Table Manners for Teenagers, which really offers no justifications, just rules, but which is nonetheless one of the better books of this sort. 11 is amazing, and the morals work their way up with a mans success. 13 is interesting, and I generally seek out specific and contemporary words, rather then ‘court-official’. 17 is about an employer, it seems to me, although this word is never used by any Egyptologists, since they doubt it in any way resembled a free and open labor market, and they prefer words like ‘servant’, ‘adherent’, ‘follower’, as befits a monarchal-mystical dictatorship. 31 is particularly relevant, since Ptahhotep was essentially a mayor, but still, he is justifying the actual reason for listening to the mayor. He never says, you should follow the laws, they are the laws, instead making pains to point out why it’s to your advantage. 32 is by common reckoning an ‘obscure’ passage, where I have made the assumption that the Hieratic compound word ‘maid-child’, commonly translated as ‘woman-boy’, means ‘girl’, not ‘gay-boy-toy’ as is generally assumed.

Teachings of Ptah Hotep

Instructions for civility by Mayor Tah Hotep, servant to Pharoah Jedkare Isesi, eternal. Mayor Tah Hotep says: my lord, I have arrived at old age, my body is feeble and weak and I can barely make it through the day. My eyes are blurry, it’s hard to hear, my mouth hangs open but I can't speak. My heart is exhausted, my mind is gone, my bones ache. Good has become bad, and everything is tedious. What time does to the body is wrong in every way. My nose can no longer smell, I hardly leave my chair. I wish for my son to take my place, it is time to instruct him in the precedents of the judges, the collected advice from men who listen to the gods. May you thrive, resolving disputes among the people, the farmlands reaping harvests.

The majesty of the god Tah said: before you retire, teach your son the wisdom of the past, so he may be an example of greatness for the children, listening to the burdens of every heart. Speak to him, no one is born wise. So begins the collection of wisdom, by the Prince and nobleman, beloved by God, eldest son of Pharoah, vizier of the state, Mayor of the capitol, Tah Hotep. He showed the ignorant how to be wise, talking with clear speech. Those who listen will profit, those who hear but do not learn will suffer.

Then he instructed his son: 

1 / Don’t be arrogant about your learning, talk to both the uneducated and the wise. The peak of human skill has yet to be delivered, and nobody has reached perfection. Decent words are more valuable then emeralds, and may even be found among the daughters at the mill.

2 / If you find yourself in a dispute with a man, powerful and superior to you, take it easy and lean back a little, drop your hatred for him, it won’t make him nice. The less insults the better. Let him talk to other people, and he will be called out as an idiot. Your moderation is more than a match for his obnoxiousness.

3 / If you find yourself in a dispute with a man, who is your equal or on the same level as you, you can gild yourself with silence, while he talks trash. Everyone will be disgusted with him, and the judges will think the best of you. 

4 / If you find yourself in a dispute with a man, who is poor and lower than you, make sure it’s not just because he’s an easy target. Give him time to defend himself. Don’t pour out all your miseries on him. Kicking a man when he is down is dishonorable. You should seek a favorable judgement only one way, let the judge do it for you.

5 / If you are a leader, with control over many people, make sure everything you do is beneficial, then you will be innocent. Right is might, it’s sharpness cuts through time. Since the days of Osiris rightness has remained upright, and the criminal is punished. The greedy barbarians can continue stealing treasure, but their crimes will always be unprofitable. Whoever cares only for himself, is not benefitting himself. The truth of rightness is it’s endurance, it is the child who honors his parents.

6 / Do not spread fear among people, God will punish you with terrors. Anyone using fear for gain, will find his gains corrupted. Anyone using fear to gain power, will find himself in fear of his subjects. If you attempt to profit by threats, you will be taking on massive debts. 

7 / If you are invited to dinner to sit with the household, accept what is offered to you. Don’t try to be the center of attention, or tax your hosts hospitality. It is offensive to his spirit. Don’t speak until spoken to, you cannot know what is in his heart. Wait until he asks you a question, then he has given you a path to his heart. A great man when eating dinner is in control of himself, distributing favors to those he loves. This is the custom in the evening, only the fool calls this unfair.

8 / If you are a trusted messenger, sent by one man to another, repeat the message precisely, and follow through as directed. Be careful of speaking freely, this is not your business. Stick to the truth and don’t exceed it. Don’t be promiscuous with gossip, and this is true for all speech.

9 / If you are a farmer with good land, and God allows you to prosper by your labor, do not boast to your neighbors. If you say nothing, then they will be in awe of you. The rich man with many plans is like a crocodile in the palace. Don’t hold it against a man for being childless, and don’t boast about your own family. Many childless husbands are filled with grief, and some mothers are more miserable than virgins. God blesses the lonely, and the father is often begging for respect.

10 / If you are weak, work for a powerful man. God blesses the servants. When you discover he is not as perfect as you thought, don’t accuse him of being a fake and a liar. Respect him for what he has become, wealth does not accumulate on its own. Here is how a rich person thinks: the profit is the result of self control and following the rules of God, which is why God protects him while he sleeps.

11 / Follow your heart as long as you live. Don’t fill all your day with order, with no time for the heart. Your spirit will hate you. But don’t neglect your duties, beyond the needs of your heart. As fate turns, your heart responds. There is no profit in denying your heart.

12 / If you are a man who wishes to be perfect, then you should have a son to please God. If he takes after you and does what you say, do all you can for him. He is the sprouting of your spirit. Do not lose love for him. Sprouts can be headstrong, seeking new things, ignoring advice, rebelling against the old ways. If he comes to talk of evil things, battle him with words. If he attacks you physically, it means he was a rotten seed. The rotten seeds cannot follow advice, when they get lost they are never found.

13 / If you are a lawyer at the court house, you have standing and seating at every step, as you knew the first day of law school. Don’t step out of line, otherwise you’ll be disbarred. The judges love the sight of lawyers eager to litigate, but one who argues when called is given a better hearing. The court house adheres to rules, and by your actions will you be judged. The god of the court house will promote you as you deserve, those who shove forward are not heard.

14 / If you wish to be one of the people, be honest, and make sure your community is trustworthy, because only the man who is not told what to do can have self control. Who do the people praise? The man who doesn’t talk. This dumb man praised by his community is fat and happy, even praised by people he’s never met. The selfish can easily join a community too, and profit from resentment. Their hearts are filled with passion, their bodies are unwashed. But the child of God is open hearted, the man of pleasure is a scoundrel.

15 / A man who reports must not hesitate to give advice to his master when asked. Anyone fluent in a language will find no difficulty in assessing and reporting on situations. If your speech is clear, no one will be in any doubt. The one who wishes to exceed his abilities with ungrounded opinions should stick to what he knows.

16 / If you are a commander with a wide ranging authority, you should accomplish great things, to inspire the future. All goes well with a job well done, then the crocodile emerges, nursing resentments.

17 / If you are an employer, be calm listening to your employees complaints, listen until he exhausts himself of what he complains of. A man in pain with a desperate heart, it hurts more than the pain. If he is denied, people wonder what their is to hide. Not everything he asks for is your fault, but it soothes his heart to advocate for himself.

18 / If you wish to be hospitable with your roomates, be you a master, brother, or friend, or any place you go, resist approaching the women. It never starts in a happy place, you are not clever for entering. A thousand men are pulled from goodness, just a brief moment, like a dream, but it is the death of one. Such disgusting situations. You come, your heart goes. If you waste your time on affairs of this type, your other affairs will soon fail.

19 / If you wish to be a good citizen and avoid all evil, resist the temptations of greed, a terrible sickness like worms, sucking your spirit dry. It can spread to fathers and mothers, separating them from relatives, driving apart even wives and husbands. A taxation of all evils, a bundle of all that is selfish. The man who is immune is guided by rightness, walking straight, guided by his will. There are no monuments to the selfish.

20 / Do not be greedy about your share, don’t covet what is not yours, or what belongs to your neighbors. The modest man receives more invitations than the grasping man. The man who screws over his friends, his words lose all value. Only a smidgen of greed can turn a cool man into a bickering bastard.

21 / If you are excellently well off, start a family, and love your wife deeply. Fill her belly, clothe her body, anoint her body with oil, fill her heart with joy all your life. She is a fertile field for her lord. Do not involve her in your work, keep her innocent of power, restrain her. What she sees becomes a hurricane in her heart, she is the force of nature in your house. You calm her by nourishing her, but her hunger is in her womb, and she will flood the canal for you.

22 / Raise your children to be content with what you have earned, it is but the blessings of the cornucopia. Anyone who neglects the happiness of his children is called a selfish bastard. What will happen tomorrow will be unplanned, but the right spirit is the spirit which is here for you now. Praise your children for what they are now, not what you hope them to be. If a man is too feeble to feed himself, he employs the children as nurses.

23 / Do not repeat gossip, and don’t listen to it. It is the vomiting of those with bloated bellies. Talk only of what you see, if it’s a trivial matter, don’t say anything. Look, only what you observe can be the basis of knowledge. When a tax is levied, hatred falls upon the tax collector. Gossip is like a dream you are ashamed to tell.

24 / If you are a wise man, advising your master with council, you should love excellence, and know that silence is more valuable than thinking out loud. Only talk of what you can explain. Many educated men are glazed with honeyed tongues, but clear speech is the most difficult craft. Only he who understands can put words to work.

25 / If you are powerful, you can win respect with wisdom, and speaking calmly. Do not boss people around, except when your job requires it, otherwise bossiness will get you into trouble. Do not be arrogant, you might be humiliated. No need to stay silent, but be careful not to offend. When you are being berated by a furious man, do not look at their face, control yourself. The spear of a hothead will miss, a calm warrior shoots straight. If you are always worried, how will you ever know what is good?

26 / A man who is lazy all day will never have a nice house. He is like a rower with one oar, on a whimsical journey, carried away by half hearted desires.

27 / Don't get in the way of a great man in his time of triumph, don’t burden the man who carries all the burdens, he is already sweeping aside those who oppose him. But he will be on your side if you are loyal to him, his favors like a gift of nourishment, like the fruits of a god. He loves to get things done, and when he looks to you in his need it will be like sunshine after a storm. His peace will be your peace. To oppose a person is to become their enemy, but the seeds of love will be your salvation.

28 / Teach your employer about what is to his benefit. Give him a good name among the public. If his workshop is successful he will be generous with you. His success will fill your belly, and will clothe you with comfort. His support will be your family's support, just as his success is fueled by your support. And when he does a praiseworthy thing, don’t be silent. This is how your reputation will endure, in the hearts of those who need you. Look, the spirit loves to listen.

29 / If you are a member of parliament, commissioned to bring justice to the people, do not take sides in an argument. When you speak, do not lean left or right, otherwise someone will complain, “Look at him, turning truth upside down!” Then you will be the one who is the problem.

30 / You should forgive wrongs, and judge people on their goodness. Pass over the bad things, they are also judging you.

31 / If you have become rich after growing up poor, now own land after being a renter, in your hometown, among people who know all about you, don’t put too much trust in the money and property, which were but gifts from God. It can make you fat and lazy, then you will lose your status.

32 / Bow to your superiors, to your mayor in his mansion, then your family will feel safe, and your rewards will come as they aught. The man who opposes his superiors will be miserable. A man lives on his own charity. It is not hard work being polite. Don’t cheat your neighbors, and don’t screw over your friends. It never goes well. They will denounce you publicly, saying, "This man is an idiot, he’s a petty tyrant." The neighborhood rejects people like this.

33 / Don’t have sex with girls. Your search for innocence is brought on by your filthiness, which is a bottomless pit. Your lust for youth is a flight from your rot, which began with your sick heart.

34 / If you suspect your friend of a wrong, don’t ask around. Go to him, ask him your questions in private. You should satisfy your worries. After some back and forth, testing his heart in conversation, if he tells you his side of the story, and admits your worries were correct, keep acting like a friend, don’t pounce on him, collect yourself and cease inquiring. Don’t use the gossip to destroy him. His moment is coming, no one escapes fate.

35 / Be generous all your life, but be careful, what leaves the granary is never brought back in. Free food can lead to arguments. The men with empty bellies will accuse you, those who are deprived will hate you. Therefore, live among your like. If you wish to make your memorial be kindness, this is customarily pursued after a man retires from work.

36 / Stay loyal to your assistants and you will prosper. Don’t be mean to your friends. They are like the fields flooded by the Nile, more important than money. Without work the flood is for naught, just as your farm is only worked to provide for the children, but your integrity you craft for yourself.

37 / Punish with words, teach with actions. The imprisonment of the criminals will set a good example. But if a criminal is punished wrongly, this is what turns a grumbler into a revolutionary.

38 / If you marry a playful woman, known to everyone in town, and she keeps going out, living in the moment, do not reject her! Give her companionship. Her light heart is a comfort.

39 / If you follow my advice your career will succeed. In their results lie their value. People will always talk of these things, because their goodness is solid. If every word is carried through, you will do well. They have been recorded for the judges to follow. Also to teach a man to think about posterity, then he will begin to understand value. It is good to talk to the future, they will hear us. If a leader is good, he will be remembered for eternity, his reign will never end. The wise man feeds his soul with what is eternal, to soothe his soul, which is discontent inside his selfish body. The intelligent man is praised on account of his learning, all the professionals know that proper conduct must be learned. His heart guides his tounge, his lips are true, his eyes are clear, his heart focused on what is good for his son. If you are right, you can’t go wrong.

40 / A son who can hear is excellently set up. If he can hear, soon he will be talking. Hearing and talking are both good, but only by hearing can one learn what is useful. Hearing benefits the listener, better then the other senses. It is how goodwill is learned. How good it is when a son listens to what his father says, the wisdom of old age will come to him prematurely. Nature loves when you listen to her, and the one who refuses to listen is cursed by nature. The heart can choose to listen or not listen, even though our ears can’t stop hearing. Your heart is your life, prosperity, and health. The one who tries to understand, he hears the instructions, and loves to be told what to do. But how much better when a son listens to his father. How wonderful it is when a father says, “My son loves listening to my advice.” The son will be effective in action. He will be remembered by people. The people now, and those yet to be. 

41 / If the son of a craftsman takes on his fathers shop, his father will make sure he succeeds. Teach your son to listen, then he will do a good job, since you will walk him through it. That’s how I learned. The excellent son is soon to be a gentleman, but the child who refuses to listen will go wrong. The wise man rises early and easily, but the fool is always out of time. 

42 / Talking of the fool, he will accomplish nothing. He mistakes wisdom for stupidity, and benefits for deprivations. He does everything wrong, and everyone is complaining about him, but he loves the feeling of tempting fate. Crazy stories are his bread and butter, and the police know all about him. They say, “a dead man walking”. It's hard to keep track of what he’s doing, so numerous are fools like this.

43 / A son who listens is one of the hawks, he thrives on insights. He will grow old and be praised. He will speak to his children, passing on the teachings of his father. Fathers teach with their actions, and so they can speak freely in front of their children, and then the children will speak freely to their children. Set an example, don’t be crude. Your truth will be their thriving. As for the father who is a fool, the people he meets will gossip, saying, “we see exactly what a scumbag he is,” and the gossipers will repeat it, “we know exactly what a scumbag he is.” That’s how people will find out about you, the masses love stories like this. Without goodness their is no profit in life. 

44 / Don’t go back on your word, don’t substitute one thing for the other. Beware of losing control of yourself. A sharper man than you is likely to say, “Shut up if you know what’s good for you,” and other people will enjoy parroting him. Speak only when you have learned the art of speech, then you can speak with success, and everything will go as you plan.

45 / Keep your heart veiled, watch your mouth, then you will be trusted with secrets. Be upright before your lord, so they say, “He is the son of that man," and they respond, “Blessed be the father.” Speak deliberately, only what is important, then the wealthy will say, “This mans words are valuable”.

46 / Act so that your superiors say, “What a well raised man, a good son, it must be his genetic disposition.” But the son should surpass the father, like natures gift of overflow, exceeding expectations. He will be right if his heart is straight. Now, my son, you are ready to take over my duties. Pharaoh is pleased with me and allows you to inherit my position. May you live long. What I have accomplished is no small thing. I am a hundred and ten years old, thanks to Pharoah, surpassing the honor of my ancestors in reaching this state of blessedness.

So it ends, from start to finish, as found in writing.