Proverbs 23:1-10

1 When thou sittest to eat with the prince, perceive thou diligently what things be set before thy face,

2 and set thou a coulter in thy throat. If nevertheless thou hast power on thy soul, (and set thou a knife at thy own throat, if thou hast not power over thy self.)

3 desire thou not of his meats, in whom is the bread of lying. (Do not thou desire any of his food, for he is not what he seemeth to be/for this is not what it seemeth to be.)

4 Do not thou travail to be made rich, but set thou measure to thy prudence. (Do not thou labour to be made rich, but set thou a limit to what thou can achieve.

5 Raise not thine eyes to riches, which thou mayest not have; for those shall make to themselves pens, as of an eagle, and they shall fly into heaven. (Raise not up thine eyes to riches, which thou cannot hold onto; for they shall make wings for themselves, like an eagle, and they shall fly away into the heavens.)

6 Eat thou not with an envious man, and desire thou not his meats; (Do not thou eat with the envious, and do not thou desire his food;)

7 for at the likeness of a false diviner, and of a conjecturer, that is, (an) expounder of dreams, he guesseth that, that he knoweth not. He shall say to thee, Eat thou and drink; and his soul is not with thee (but his heart is not for thee/but his heart is not with thee).

8 Thou shalt spew out the meat, which thou hast eaten; and thou shalt lose thy fair words (and thy flattery shall have been wasted).

9 Speak thou not in the ears of unwise men (Speak thou not in the ears of the unwise); for they shall despise the teaching of thy speech.

10 Touch thou not the terms, (or the boundary stones, of the property) of little children; and enter thou not into the field of fatherless and motherless children.

Proverbs 23:1-10 Meaning and Commentary

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.