Proverbs 23

1 When you sit to eat with a ruler, you shall surely observe what [is] before you,

2 and you shall put a knife to your throat if you have a {big appetite}.

3 Do not desire his delicacies, for it is food of deception.

4 Do not tire [in order] to become rich; out of your understanding, [may you] desist

5 Your eyes will {alight} on it, but there is nothing [to] it, for suddenly it will make for itself wings like an eagle and it will be exhausted [in] the heavens.

6 Do not eat the bread of {the stingy}, and do not desire his delicacies.

7 For, like hair in his {throat}, so it is. "Eat and drink!" he will say to you, but his heart will not be with you.

8 Your morsel you have eaten, you will vomit it up, and you will waste your pleasant words.

9 In the ears of a fool do not speak, for he will despise the wisdom of your words.

10 Do not remove an ancient boundary marker, and on the fields of orphans do not encroach;

11 For their redeemer is strong, he himself will plead their cause against you.

12 Apply your heart to instruction, and your ear to sayings of knowledge.

13 Do not withhold discipline from a child, if you will beat him with the rod, he will not die.

14 As for you, with the rod you shall beat him, and his life you will save from Sheol.

15 My child, if your heart is wise, my heart will be glad--even me!

16 And my {insides} will rejoice when your lips speak what is upright.

17 May your heart not envy the sinners, but [live] in fear of Yahweh {all day}.

18 {Surely} there is a future, and your hope will not be cut off.

19 You, my child, hear and be wise, and direct your heart on the road

20 Do not be among drinkers of wine, among gluttonous eaters of {their meat}.

21 For the drunkard and gluttonous, they will become poor, and [with] rags, drowsiness will clothe them

22 Listen to your father--he who {gave you life}, and do not despise your mother when she is old.

23 Buy truth and do not sell [it], wisdom and instruction and understanding.

24 The father of the righteous will surely rejoice; he who bears a wise person will be happy with him.

25 May your father and your mother be glad, and may she who bore you rejoice.

26 My child, may you give your heart to me, and may your eyes delight in my ways.

27 For a deep pit is a prostitute, and a narrow well is {an adulteress}.

28 She [is] also like a robber lying in wait, and the faithless among mankind she increases.

29 To whom [is] woe? To whom [is] sorrow? To whom [are] quarrels? To whom [is] complaint? To whom [are] wounds without cause? To whom [is] redness of [the] eyes?

30 To those who linger over wine, to those who come to try mixed wine.

31 Do not look at wine when it is red, when it {sparkles} on the cup, going down smoothly.

32 {In the end}, it will bite like a serpent, and it will sting like an adder.

33 Your eyes will see strange things, and your heart will speak perverse things.

34 And you will be like him who lies down in the heart of the sea, and like him who lies down on top of a mast.

35 "They struck me; I was not hurt. They beat me; I did not know [it]. When I will awake, I will continue; I will seek it again."

Proverbs 23 Commentary

Chapter 23

Verses 1-3 God's restraints of the appetite only say, Do thyself no ( proverbs 23:4-5 ) this world are not happiness and a portion for a soul; those that hold them ever so fast, cannot hold them always, cannot hold them long. ( 6-8 ) . Do not make thyself burdensome to any, especially those not sincere. When we are called by God to his feast, and to let our souls delight themselves, Isa. 25:6 Isa. 55:2 |, we may safely partake of the Bread of life. Verse 9 . It is our duty to take all fit occasions to speak of Divine things; but if what a wise man says will not be heard, let him hold his ( proverbs 23:10-11 ) protection. He is their Redeemer, who will take their part; and he is mighty, almighty.

Verses 12-16 Here is a parent instructing his child to give his mind to the Scriptures. Here is a parent correcting his child: accompanied with prayer, and blessed of God, it may prove a means of preventing his destruction. Here is a parent encouraging his child, telling him what would be for his good. And what a comfort it would be, if herein he answered his ( proverbs 23:17-18 ) disappointed; the end of his trials, and of the sinner's prosperity, is at hand.

Verses 19-28 The gracious Saviour who purchased pardon and peace for his people, with all the affection of a tender parent, counsels us to hear and be wise, and is ready to guide our hearts in his way. Here we have an earnest call to young people, to attend to the advice of their godly parents. If the heart be guided, the steps will be guided. Buy the truth, and sell it not; be willing to part with any thing for it. Do not part with it for pleasures, honours, riches, or any thing in this world. The heart is what the great God requires. We must not think to divide the heart between God and the world; he will have all or none. Look to the rule of God's word, the conduct of his providence, and the good examples of his people. Particular cautions are given against sins most destructive to wisdom and grace in the soul. It is really a shame to make a god of the belly. Drunkenness stupifies men, and then all goes to ruin. Licentiousness takes away the heart that should be given to God. Take heed of any approaches toward this sin, it is very hard to retreat from it. It bewitches men to their ruin.

Verses 29-35 Solomon warns against drunkenness. Those that would be kept from sin, must keep from all the beginnings of it, and fear coming within reach of its allurements. Foresee the punishment, what it will at last end in, if repentance prevent not. It makes men quarrel. Drunkards wilfully make woe and sorrow for themselves. It makes men impure and insolent. The tongue grows unruly; the heart utters things contrary to reason, religion, and common civility. It stupifies and besots men. They are in danger of death, of damnation; as much exposed as if they slept upon the top of a mast, yet feel secure. They fear no peril when the terrors of the Lord are before them; they feel no pain when the judgments of God are actually upon them. So lost is a drunkard to virtue and honour, so wretchedly is his conscience seared, that he is not ashamed to say, I will seek it again. With good reason we were bid to stop before the beginning. Who that has common sense would contract a habit, or sell himself to a sin, which tends to such guilt and misery, and exposes a man every day to the danger of dying insensible, and awaking in hell? Wisdom seems in these chapters to take up the discourse as at the beginning of the book. They must be considered as the words of Christ to the sinner.

Footnotes

• [a]. Literally "lord/master of life"
• [b]. Hebrew "and"
• [c]. Literally "cause to fly"
• [d]. Literally "stingy of eye"
• [e]. Literally "soul," or "inner self"
• [f]. Or "is he"
• [g]. Or "mind"
• [h]. Or "soul," or "inner self"
• [i]. A term for the place where the dead reside, i.e., the Underworld
• [j]. Or "mind"
• [k]. Literally "kidneys"
• [l]. Or "mind"
• [m]. Literally "all the day"
• [n]. Literally "For if"
• [o]. Or "mind"
• [p]. Literally "meat for them"
• [q]. Literally "caused you to be born"
• [r]. Or "for, because"
• [s]. Or "mind"
• [t]. Or "whore"
• [u]. Literally "a foreign woman"
• [v]. Literally "gives its eye"
• [w]. Literally "end him"
• [x]. Or "mind"

Chapter Summary

INTRODUCTION TO 1 KINGS 11

This chapter relates the false steps Solomon took, notwithstanding all his wisdom, in marrying strange wives, and worshipping other gods, 1Ki 11:1-8 upon which the Lord threatens him to rend the kingdom in his son's time, 1Ki 11:9-13 and he raised up adversaries against him, Hadad, Rezon, and Jeroboam, 1Ki 11:14-26 of which last an account is given, and of his being assured by Ahijah the prophet of his having ten of the tribes of Israel given to him; which Solomon having notice of sought to slay him, 1Ki 11:27-40 and the chapter is concluded with an account of Solomon's death and burial, 1Ki 11:41-43.