Proverbs 23

¹When thou sittest to eat with a ruler, consider diligently what is before thee:

Pr 23:1-35. 1. Avoid the dangers of gluttony.

²And put a knife to thy throat, if thou be a man given to appetite.

2. put a knife--an Eastern figure for putting restraint on the appetite.

³Be not desirous of his dainties: for they are deceitful meat.

3. are deceitful meat--though well tasted, injurious.

⁴Labour not to be rich: cease from thine own wisdom.

⁵Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not? for riches certainly make themselves wings; they fly away as an eagle toward heaven.

4-5. (Compare 1Ti 6:9, 10). thine own wisdom--which regards riches intrinsically as a blessing.

⁶Eat thou not the bread of him that hath an evil eye, neither desire thou his dainty meats:

⁷For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee.

⁸The morsel which thou hast eaten shalt thou vomit up, and lose thy sweet words.

6-8. Beware of deceitful men, whose courtesies even you will repent of having accepted. evil eye--or purpose (Pr 22:9; De 15:9; Mt 6:23).

⁹Speak not in the ears of a fool: for he will despise the wisdom of thy words.

9. (Compare Pr 9:8). “Cast not your pearls before swine” (Mt 7:6).

¹⁰Remove not the old landmark; and enter not into the fields of the fatherless:

¹¹For their redeemer is mighty; he shall plead their cause with thee.

10-11. (Compare Pr 22:22, 23).

¹²Apply thine heart unto instruction, and thine ears to the words of knowledge.

12. Here begins another series of precepts.

¹³Withhold not correction from the child: for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die.

¹⁴Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell.

13-14. While there is little danger that the use of the “divine ordinance of the rod” will produce bodily harm, there is great hope of spiritual good.

¹⁵My son, if thine heart be wise, my heart shall rejoice, even mine.

¹⁶Yea, my reins shall rejoice, when thy lips speak right things.

15-16. The pleasure afforded the teacher by the pupil’s progress is a motive to diligence.

¹⁷Let not thine heart envy sinners: but be thou in the fear of the LORD all the day long.

¹⁸For surely there is an end; and thine expectation shall not be cut off.

17-18. (Compare Margin). The prosperity of the wicked is short.

¹⁹Hear thou, my son, and be wise, and guide thine heart in the way.

²⁰Be not among winebibbers; among riotous eaters of flesh:

²¹For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty: and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags.

19-21. guide ... way--or direct thy thoughts to a right course of conduct (compare Pr 4:4; 9:6).

²²Hearken unto thy father that begat thee, and despise not thy mother when she is old.

22. Hearken--that is, obey (Pr 1:8; Ep 6:1). despise ... old--Adults revere the parents whom, as children, they once obeyed.

²³Buy the truth, and sell it not; also wisdom, and instruction, and understanding.

23. Buy--literally, “get” (Pr 4:5). truth--generally and specially as opposed to errors of all kinds.

²⁴The father of the righteous shall greatly rejoice: and he that begetteth a wise child shall have joy of him.

²⁵Thy father and thy mother shall be glad, and she that bare thee shall rejoice.

24-25. (Compare Pr 10:1; 17:21, 25).

²⁶My son, give me thine heart, and let thine eyes observe my ways.

²⁷For a whore is a deep ditch; and a strange woman is a narrow pit.

²⁸She also lieth in wait as for a prey, and increaseth the transgressors among men.

²⁹Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who hath babbling? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes?

³⁰They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine.

³¹Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright.

³²At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder.

³³Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thine heart shall utter perverse things.

³⁴Yea, thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea, or as he that lieth upon the top of a mast.

³⁵They have stricken me, shalt thou say, and I was not sick; they have beaten me, and I felt it not: when shall I awake? I will seek it yet again.

26-35. A solemn warning against whoredom and drunkenness (Ho 4:11). give me--This is the address of that divine wisdom so often presented (Pr 8:1; 9:3, &c.). heart--confidence. observe--keep. my ways--such as I teach you (Pr 3:17; 9:6).