Proverbs 23:12-22

12 Apply your heart to instruction and your ear to words of knowledge.

13 Do not withhold ¹discipline from a child; ²if you strike him with a rod, he will not die.

14 If you strike him with the rod, you will ³save his soul from Sheol.

15 ⁴My son, if your heart is wise, my heart too will be glad.

16 My ⁵inmost being^[a] will exult when your lips speak ⁶what is right.

17 Let not your heart ⁷envy sinners, but continue in ⁸the fear of the LORD all the day.

18 Surely ⁹there is a future, and your ¹⁰hope will not be cut off.

19 Hear, my son, and ¹¹be wise, and ¹²direct your heart in the way.

20 Be not among ¹³drunkards^[b] or among ¹⁴gluttonous eaters of meat,

21 for the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty, and ¹⁵slumber will clothe them with rags

22 ¹⁶Listen to your father who gave you life, ¹⁷and do not despise your mother when she is old.

Proverbs 23:12-22 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.

Cross References

• 1. See Proverbs 13:24
• 2. [Proverbs 19:18]
• 3. [1 Corinthians 5:5]
• 4. ver. 24, 25; See Proverbs 29:3
• 5. Psalms 7:9; Psalms 73:21
• 6. [Proverbs 8:6]
• 7. See Psalms 37:1
• 8. [Proverbs 28:14]
• 9. Proverbs 24:14, 20
• 10. Psalms 9:18
• 11. Proverbs 6:6
• 12. [Proverbs 9:6]
• 13. [ver. 29, 30; Isaiah 5:11, 22; Matthew 24:49; Luke 21:34; Romans 13:13; Ephesians 5:18]
• 14. Proverbs 28:7
• 15. [Proverbs 6:10, 11]
• 16. See Proverbs 1:8
• 17. [Proverbs 30:17]

Footnotes

• [a]. Hebrew My kidneys
• [b]. Hebrew those who drink too much wine