Proverbs 23:1-8

1 When you sit down to dine with a ruler, consider carefully what^[a] is before you,

2 and stick a knife in your throat if you have a big^[b] appetite;

3 don't desire his choice food,^[c] for that food is deceptive.

4 Don't wear yourself out to get rich; stop giving your attention to it.

5 As soon as your eyes fly to it, it disappears, for it makes wings for itself and flies like an eagle to the sky.^[d]

6 Don't eat a stingy person's bread,^[e] and don't desire his choice food,^[f]

7 for as he thinks within himself, so he is.^[g] "Eat and drink," he says to you, but his heart is not with you.

8 You will vomit the little you've eaten and waste your pleasant words.

Proverbs 23:1-8 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.

Footnotes

• [a]. Or who
• [b]. Lit you are the master of an
• [c]. Pr 23:6
• [d]. Pr 13:11; 20:21; Jr 17:11
• [e]. Lit eat bread of an evil eye
• [f]. Pr 23:3; Gn 27:4
• [g]. Mt 6:21; Lk 12:34