Proverbs 23:3-13

3 don't desire his choice food,^[a] 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.^[b]

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

7 for as he thinks within himself, so he is.^[e] "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.

9 Don't speak to^[f] a fool, for he will despise the insight of your words.

10 Don't move an ancient property line, and don't encroach on the fields of the fatherless,^[g]

11 for their Redeemer is strong, and He will take up their case against you.^[h]

12 Apply yourself to instruction and listen to words of knowledge.

13 Don't withhold correction from a youth; if you beat him with a rod, he will not die.

Proverbs 23:3-13 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]. Pr 23:6
• [b]. Pr 13:11; 20:21; Jr 17:11
• [c]. Lit eat bread of an evil eye
• [d]. Pr 23:3; Gn 27:4
• [e]. Mt 6:21; Lk 12:34
• [f]. Lit in the ears of
• [g]. Pr 22:28; Hs 5:10
• [h]. Pr 22:22-23,28; Dt 19:14; 27:17