Proverbs 23
Proverbs 23 presents pivotal events and lessons, emphasizing themes like faith, obedience, and God’s faithful guidance.
Summary
Proverbs 23 continues the story of Proverbs, revealing key themes of faith, obedience, and God’s promise-keeping. This chapter illustrates the human response to divine commands, showing both trust and failure, and demonstrates God’s mercy and justice. As part of the larger narrative, it lays groundwork for understanding God’s covenant relationship with His people and points forward to the hope of redemption. Readers are encouraged to reflect on their own lives, to trust in God’s plans, and to live in faithful obedience, finding hope in His unchanging character.
Primarily attributed to Solomon, with contributions from others (10th–6th century BC). Wisdom sayings.
Proverbs 23: KJV Commentary and Summary
1 When thou sittest to eat with a ruler, consider diligently what [is] before thee:
2 And put a knife to thy throat, if thou [be] a man given to appetite.
3 Be not desirous of his dainties: for they [are] deceitful meat.
4 Labour not to be rich: cease from thine own wisdom.
5 Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not? for [riches] certainly make themselves wings; they fly away as an eagle toward heaven.
6 Eat thou not the bread of [him that hath] an evil eye, neither desire thou his dainty meats:
7 For as he thinketh in his heart, so [is] he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart [is] not with thee.
8 The morsel [which] thou hast eaten shalt thou vomit up, and lose thy sweet words.
9 Speak not in the ears of a fool: for he will despise the wisdom of thy words.
10 Remove not the old landmark; and enter not into the fields of the fatherless:
11 For their redeemer [is] mighty; he shall plead their cause with thee.
12 Apply thine heart unto instruction, and thine ears to the words of knowledge.
13 Withhold not correction from the child: for [if] thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die.
14 Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell.
15 My son, if thine heart be wise, my heart shall rejoice, even mine.
16 Yea, my reins shall rejoice, when thy lips speak right things.
17 Let not thine heart envy sinners: but [be thou] in the fear of the LORD all the day long.
18 For surely there is an end; and thine expectation shall not be cut off.
19 Hear thou, my son, and be wise, and guide thine heart in the way.
20 Be not among winebibbers; among riotous eaters of flesh:
21 For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty: and drowsiness shall clothe [a man] with rags.
22 Hearken unto thy father that begat thee, and despise not thy mother when she is old.
23 Buy the truth, and sell [it] not; [also] wisdom, and instruction, and understanding.
24 The father of the righteous shall greatly rejoice: and he that begetteth a wise [child] shall have joy of him.
25 Thy father and thy mother shall be glad, and she that bare thee shall rejoice.
26 My son, give me thine heart, and let thine eyes observe my ways.
27 For a whore [is] a deep ditch; and a strange woman [is] a narrow pit.
28 She also lieth in wait as [for] a prey, and increaseth the transgressors among men.
29 Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who hath babbling? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes?
30 They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine.
31 Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, [when] it moveth itself aright.
32 At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder.
33 Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thine heart shall utter perverse things.
34 Yea, 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.
35 They 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.
Faith, Obedience, God’s Promises, Judgment, Mercy, Hope
Proverbs 23:1 – Highlights key themes of faith and God’s interaction with His people.; Proverbs 23:18 – Highlights key themes of faith and God’s interaction with His people.; Proverbs 23:35 – Highlights key themes of faith and God’s interaction with His people.