Chapter 23

1–8. A warning against greed for food and against dealing with ill-wishing people. 9–11. Against association with fools. 12–18. An exhortation to moral training of children. 19–25. A warning against excess in food. 25–28. Against seduction by unchastity. 29–35. Against drunkenness and its ruinous consequences.

Proverbs 23:1. When you sit down to eat with a ruler, consider carefully what is before you, 2. and put a knife to your throat if you are prone to greed. 3. Do not desire his delicacies; it is deceptive food. By connection with the last (29th) verse of the previous chapter, a man who through diligence has reached a high position at the royal court is advised to maintain moderation in food, and in general in the enjoyment of external goods, even in this new position (and also generally at the tables of the noble ones) (cf. Sir 31:13).

Proverbs 23:4. Do not labor to become rich; cease from your own understanding. 5. When you set your eyes on it, it is gone; for suddenly it makes itself wings like an eagle and flies to the sky. Among these goods, wealth is named first of all, and with special force is noted its transitory character and unreliability (cf. 1 Tim 6:17),—even wealth acquired by honest means.

Proverbs 23:6. Do not eat the bread of an envious man, and do not desire his delicacies; 7. for as he calculates in his soul, so is he; “eat and drink,” he says to you, but his heart is not with you. 8. The morsel you have eaten you will vomit up, and you will waste your kind words. 9. Do not speak in the hearing of a fool, for he will despise the wisdom of your words. In the choice of acquaintances and in seeking goodwill from people, one should pay attention to the degree of sincerity of those offering hospitality (cf. Sir 14:10).

Proverbs 23:10. Do not move the ancient boundary marker, and do not encroach upon the fields of the fatherless, see Prov 22:28.

Proverbs 23:12. Apply your heart to instruction and your ears to words of knowledge. 13. Do not withhold discipline from a young man: if you strike him with a rod, he will not die; 14. you will strike him with a rod and save his soul from the grave. 15. My son! if your heart is wise, my heart too will be glad; 16. and my inmost parts will rejoice when your lips speak what is right. 17. Let not your heart envy sinners, but always be in the fear of the Lord; 18. for indeed there is a future, and your hope will not be cut off. Special attention is called to the necessity of good home education, and thereupon it is indicated (v. 13) as previously was indicated (13:25), the necessity of physical punishment in the system of education, as a pedagogical and entirely appropriate means (v. 14). In the following exhortation to wisdom, the ability of wisdom to make a person happy is brought to the fore (v. 15–16), and the first manifestation of wisdom is presented as the absence of envy toward prospering sinners (v. 17, see Prov 24:1), the presence, on the contrary, of the fear of God and hope for reward—here and beyond the grave (v. 10); in this case, as in others (Prov 11:7), the faith of the Wise One in the immortality of the human soul and in the judgment after death of the righteous and sinners is expressed.

Proverbs 23:19. Listen, my son, and be wise, and direct your heart on the right path. 20. Do not be among those who drink wine, among those who gorge themselves on meat: 21. for the drunkard and the glutton will become poor, and drowsiness will clothe one in rags. 22. Listen to your father who begat you; and do not despise your mother when she grows old. 23. Buy truth and do not sell wisdom and instruction and understanding. 24. The father of a righteous man will be full of joy, and he who begets a wise man will delight in him. 25. Let your father and mother be glad, she who bore you will rejoice. For the pursuit of wisdom, it is necessary first of all to remove the obstacles that stand in the way—passion for drunkenness and unchastity (v. 19–21). Then the persistent exhortation to hold fast to wisdom, truth, understanding (v. 23) is preceded (v. 22) and concluded with an exhortation to honor the authority of father and mother (v. 24–27) (cf. Prov 10:1 and others).

Proverbs 23:26. My son! give your heart to me, and let your eyes observe my ways, 27. for a loose woman is a deep pit, and a foreign woman is a narrow well; 28. she lies in ambush like a robber and increases the transgressors among men. It is very important to note that for the acquisition of wisdom, the disciple had to give himself entirely to the will and disposition of the teacher. The warning against the seductions of the loose woman (v. 27, 28) recalls the earlier discourses of the Wise One and the same subject (Prov 5:20).

Proverbs 23:29. Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has strife? Who has complaint? Who has wounds without cause? Who has dimmed eyes? 30. Those who tarry long over wine, those who go seeking out mixed wine. 31. Do not look at wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup, when it goes down smoothly: 32. in the end, like a serpent it will bite, and like a viper it will sting; 33. your eyes will see strange women, and your heart will speak perverse things, 34. and you will be like one sleeping in the heart of the sea and like one sleeping on the top of a mast. 35. And you will say: “They struck me, but I felt no pain; they beat me, but I did not feel it. When I awake, I will seek it again.” In a form rare for its vividness is depicted the picture of the ruinous consequences of drunkenness (cf. Isa 56:12).