Proverbs 23

On Life and Conduct

1 When you sit down to dine with a ruler, Consider carefully what is before you,

2 And put a knife to your throat If you are a ¹man of great appetite.

3 Do not ²desire his delicacies, For it is deceptive food.

4 ³Do not weary yourself to gain wealth, ⁴Cease from your consideration of it

5 When you set your eyes on it, it is gone. For ⁵wealth certainly makes itself wings Like an eagle that flies toward the heavens.

6 ⁶Do not eat the bread of a ⁷selfish * man, Or desire his delicacies;

7 For as he thinks within himself, so he is. He says to you, "Eat and drink!" But ⁸his heart is not with you.

8 You will ⁹vomit up the morsel you have eaten, And waste your compliments.

9 ¹⁰Do not speak in the hearing of a fool, For he will ¹¹despise the wisdom of your words.

10 Do not move the ancient boundary Or ¹²go into the fields of the fatherless,

11 For their ¹³Redeemer is strong; ¹⁴He will plead their case against you.

12 Apply your heart to discipline And your ears to words of knowledge.

13 ¹⁵Do not hold back discipline from the child, although you strike him with the rod, he will not die.

14 You shall strike him with the rod and ¹⁶rescue his soul from Sheol

15 My son, if your heart is ¹⁷wise, My own heart also will be glad;

16 And my inmost being will rejoice When your lips speak ¹⁸what is right.

17 ¹⁹Do not let your heart envy sinners, But live in the ²⁰fear of the LORD always *.

18 Surely * there is a ²¹future, And your ²²hope will not be cut off.

19 Listen, my son, and ²³be wise, And ²⁴direct your heart in the way

20 Do not be with ²⁵heavy drinkers of wine, Or with ²⁶gluttonous eaters of meat;

21 For the ²⁷heavy drinker and the glutton will come to poverty, And ²⁸drowsiness will clothe one with rags

22 ²⁹Listen to your father who begot you, And ³⁰do not despise your mother when she is old.

23 ³¹Buy truth, and do not sell it, Get wisdom and instruction and understanding.

24 The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice, And ³²he who sires a wise son will be glad in him.

25 Let your ³³father and your mother be glad, And let her rejoice who gave birth to you.

26 ³⁴Give me your heart, my son, And let your eyes ³⁵delight in my ways.

27 For a harlot is a ³⁶deep pit And an ³⁷adulterous woman is a narrow well.

28 Surely she ³⁸lurks as a robber, And increases the faithless among men.

29 Who has ³⁹woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has complaining? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes?

30 Those who ⁴⁰linger long over wine, Those who go to taste ⁴¹mixed wine.

31 Do not look on the wine when it is red, When it sparkles * in the cup, When it ⁴²goes down smoothly;

32 At the last it ⁴³bites like a serpent And stings like a ⁴⁴viper.

33 Your eyes will see strange things And your mind will ⁴⁵utter perverse things.

34 And you will be like one who lies down in the middle of the sea, Or like one who lies down on the top of a mast.

35 "They ⁴⁶struck me, but I did not become ill; They beat me, but I did not know it. When shall I awake? I will ⁴⁷seek another * drink."

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Proverbs 23 Commentary

Chapter 23

Verses 1-3 God's restraints of the appetite only say, Do thyself no ( proverbs 23:4-5 ) this world are not happiness and a portion for a soul; those that hold them ever so fast, cannot hold them always, cannot hold them long. ( 6-8 ) . Do not make thyself burdensome to any, especially those not sincere. When we are called by God to his feast, and to let our souls delight themselves, Isa. 25:6 Isa. 55:2 |, we may safely partake of the Bread of life. Verse 9 . It is our duty to take all fit occasions to speak of Divine things; but if what a wise man says will not be heard, let him hold his ( proverbs 23:10-11 ) protection. He is their Redeemer, who will take their part; and he is mighty, almighty.

Verses 12-16 Here is a parent instructing his child to give his mind to the Scriptures. Here is a parent correcting his child: accompanied with prayer, and blessed of God, it may prove a means of preventing his destruction. Here is a parent encouraging his child, telling him what would be for his good. And what a comfort it would be, if herein he answered his ( proverbs 23:17-18 ) disappointed; the end of his trials, and of the sinner's prosperity, is at hand.

Verses 19-28 The gracious Saviour who purchased pardon and peace for his people, with all the affection of a tender parent, counsels us to hear and be wise, and is ready to guide our hearts in his way. Here we have an earnest call to young people, to attend to the advice of their godly parents. If the heart be guided, the steps will be guided. Buy the truth, and sell it not; be willing to part with any thing for it. Do not part with it for pleasures, honours, riches, or any thing in this world. The heart is what the great God requires. We must not think to divide the heart between God and the world; he will have all or none. Look to the rule of God's word, the conduct of his providence, and the good examples of his people. Particular cautions are given against sins most destructive to wisdom and grace in the soul. It is really a shame to make a god of the belly. Drunkenness stupifies men, and then all goes to ruin. Licentiousness takes away the heart that should be given to God. Take heed of any approaches toward this sin, it is very hard to retreat from it. It bewitches men to their ruin.

Verses 29-35 Solomon warns against drunkenness. Those that would be kept from sin, must keep from all the beginnings of it, and fear coming within reach of its allurements. Foresee the punishment, what it will at last end in, if repentance prevent not. It makes men quarrel. Drunkards wilfully make woe and sorrow for themselves. It makes men impure and insolent. The tongue grows unruly; the heart utters things contrary to reason, religion, and common civility. It stupifies and besots men. They are in danger of death, of damnation; as much exposed as if they slept upon the top of a mast, yet feel secure. They fear no peril when the terrors of the Lord are before them; they feel no pain when the judgments of God are actually upon them. So lost is a drunkard to virtue and honour, so wretchedly is his conscience seared, that he is not ashamed to say, I will seek it again. With good reason we were bid to stop before the beginning. Who that has common sense would contract a habit, or sell himself to a sin, which tends to such guilt and misery, and exposes a man every day to the danger of dying insensible, and awaking in hell? Wisdom seems in these chapters to take up the discourse as at the beginning of the book. They must be considered as the words of Christ to the sinner.

Taken from Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible (Concise)

Cross References 47

1. Proverbs 23:20
2. Psalms 141:4; Proverbs 23:6; Dan 1:5, 8, 13, 15, 16
3. Proverbs 15:27; Proverbs 28:20; Matthew 6:19; 1 Timothy 6:9; Hebrews 13:5
4. Proverbs 3:5, 7
5. Proverbs 27:24; 1 Timothy 6:17
6. Psalms 141:4
7. Deuteronomy 15:9; Proverbs 28:22
8. Proverbs 26:24, 25
9. Proverbs 25:16
10. Matthew 7:6
11. Proverbs 1:7
12. Jeremiah 22:3; Zechariah 7:10
13. Job 19:25; Jeremiah 50:34
14. Proverbs 22:23
15. Proverbs 13:24; Proverbs 19:18
16. 1 Corinthians 5:5
17. Proverbs 23:24; Proverbs 27:11; Proverbs 29:3
18. Proverbs 8:6
19. Psalms 37:1; Proverbs 24:1, 19
20. Proverbs 28:14
21. Psalms 19:11; Psalms 58:11; Proverbs 24:14
22. Psalms 9:18
23. Proverbs 6:6
24. Proverbs 4:23; Proverbs 9:6
25. Proverbs 20:1; Proverbs 23:29, 30; Isaiah 5:22; Matthew 24:49; Luke 21:34; Romans 13:13; Ephesians 5:18
26. Deuteronomy 21:20; Proverbs 28:7
27. Proverbs 21:17
28. Proverbs 6:10, 11
29. Proverbs 1:8; Ephesians 6:1
30. Proverbs 15:20; Proverbs 30:17
31. Proverbs 4:7; Proverbs 18:15; Matthew 13:44
32. Proverbs 10:1; Proverbs 15:20; Proverbs 29:3
33. Proverbs 27:11
34. Proverbs 3:1; Proverbs 4:4
35. Psalms 1:2; Psalms 119:24
36. Proverbs 22:14
37. Proverbs 5:20
38. Proverbs 6:26; Proverbs 7:12; Ecclesiastes 7:26
39. Isaiah 5:11, 22
40. 1 Samuel 25:36; Proverbs 20:1; Isaiah 5:11; Isaiah 28:7; Ephesians 5:18
41. Psalms 75:8
42. Song of Songs 7:9
43. Job 20:16; Proverbs 20:1; Ephesians 5:18
44. Psalms 91:13; Isaiah 11:8
45. Proverbs 2:12
46. Proverbs 27:22; Jeremiah 5:3
47. Proverbs 26:11; Isaiah 56:12

Footnotes 24

[a]. Or "who"
[b]. Or "understanding"
[c]. Lit "Will your eyes fly upon it and it is not?"
[d]. Lit "an evil eye"
[e]. Lit "reckons in his soul"
[f]. Lit "your"
[g]. Lit "pleasant words"
[h]. Lit "ears"
[i]. Lit "smite"
[j]. Lit "smite"
[k]. Lit "kidneys"
[l]. Or "reverence"
[m]. Lit "all the day"
[n]. Lit "latter end"
[o]. Another reading is "observe"
[p]. Lit "strange"
[q]. Lit "treacherous"
[r]. Or "search out"
[s]. Lit "gives its eye"
[t]. Lit "heart"
[u]. Lit "heart"
[v]. Or "lookout"
[w]. I.e. from the effect of wounds
[x]. Lit "it yet again"

Chapter Summary

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.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible