Proverbs 23

This chapter is a father’s advice to his son on guarding his appetites, his money, his learning and his heart. It warns against greed and the false hospitality of the stingy, and it urges the son to take correction and to hold to the truth. It closes with a picture of drunkenness and the sexual temptations that go with it.

Proverbs 23:1-3

A meal with a powerful person is not only a meal. Power can use food to flatter, test or obligate you. Look carefully at what is happening, and master your appetite. The rich table can be a trap, and the fine food is not what it seems.

BSA: consider (“to understand, to discern”): This means more than glancing at the table. You are to understand what is really going on. deceptive (“deceitful, lying, false”): The delicacies promise friendship or favor but may deliver something else.

Hebrew: נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, H5315) — “throat, soul, appetite.” The same word means both the throat and the whole inner self with its cravings. The verse is about mastering desire, not only manners at table.

Proverbs 23:4-5

Do not work yourself to exhaustion chasing wealth. Be wise enough to say, “Enough.” Riches are quick to vanish. You look at them and they are gone, like an eagle in flight. They cannot be held onto, and they are a poor thing to build a life on.

BSA: restrain (“set bounds to, stop”): Wisdom sets a limit on the pursuit of money before the pursuit wears you out. disappears (“vanishes, is gone”): Wealth does not merely shrink. It can be gone in a moment.

See also: 1 Timothy 6:9-10; Matthew 6:19-20.

Proverbs 23:6-8

A stingy host pretends to be generous. He says “Eat and drink,” but he is silently adding up what it costs him. His invitation has no real warmth. Eating his food leaves you sick and leaves your kind words wasted. Be wary of hospitality that is only show.

BSA: stingy (“having an evil eye, envious”): The picture is of a grudging, jealous look that resents every bite you take. keeping track (“thinking in his heart”): What he really thinks in his heart is different from what his mouth says.

Hebrew: רַע עַיִן (ra ayin, H7451) — “evil of eye.” This is the Hebrew way of saying a person is grudging. The “eye” shows the heart, and his is closed to giving.

Proverbs 23:9

Some people will not listen, however good your words are. Speaking wisdom to a fool who only scorns it wastes what is precious. This is not about giving up on anyone for good. It is about knowing when someone is closed to hearing.

BSA: fool (“stupid person, one who rejects God”): In Proverbs the fool is not just slow. He is stubbornly set against God’s way.

See also: Matthew 7:6.

Proverbs 23:10-11

Boundary stones marked a family’s inherited land. Quietly moving one stole from the weak. The fatherless had no one to speak for them in court, but God stands behind them. Their Redeemer is strong, and He will take up their case against the one who robbed them.

BSA: boundary stone (“landmark, border”): These markers kept land in the family. Moving one was theft that hid itself. Redeemer (“mighty Protector, strong Defender”): God Himself takes the part of those who have no protector.

Hebrew: גֹּאֵל (goel, H1350) — “redeemer, rescuer-kinsman.” The goel was the near relative who bought back family land and defended family members. God takes that role for the orphan.

See also: Deuteronomy 19:14; Exodus 22:22-23.

Proverbs 23:12

After warning about others, the teacher turns to the learner. Give your whole heart and your open ears to instruction. Wisdom does not come by accident. It comes to the one who deliberately turns his attention toward being taught.

BSA: Apply (“focus, give attention to”): Learning takes effort. You have to bring your mind to it on purpose.

Proverbs 23:13-14

Loving parents do not leave a child without correction. A child will survive being corrected, and what he is saved from is much worse. The “rod” stands for firm, serious training. Christians differ on how to apply it, but the point is that love cares enough to correct.

BSA: discipline (“correction, training, chastisement”): The word covers all moral training, not only punishment. Sheol (“the underworld, hell, grave”): It stands for the place of the dead. Training in wisdom may save a young person from a path that ends in ruin.

Hebrew: מוּסָר (musar, H4148) — “discipline, instruction.” This word covers teaching, warning and correction together. It describes the shaping of a whole life.

See also: Proverbs 13:24; Hebrews 12:11.

Proverbs 23:15-16

The father speaks with deep feeling. When his son’s heart is wise, his own heart is glad. When the son’s lips speak what is right, the father’s very depths leap for joy. A parent’s greatest joy is to see wisdom taking root in a child.

BSA: inmost being (“innermost being, heart”): The joy goes to the deepest part of the father, not just to his surface feelings.

Hebrew: כִּלְיוֹתַי (kilyotai, H3629) — “my kidneys.” The Hebrew says “my kidneys will rejoice.” The kidneys were thought of as the seat of the deepest emotions, so this is joy felt in the gut.

Proverbs 23:17-18

It is tempting to envy sinners who seem to prosper. Instead, keep living in the fear of the LORD day by day. There is a future for the one who does. His hope is not a cord that will be cut. The wicked may look secure, but he is the one without a real end to look forward to.

BSA: fear (“reverence, respect, awe”): This is not terror. It is respect for God that shapes how you live. hope (“cord of expectancy”): Hope is pictured as a rope that holds. God will not let it be severed.

Hebrew: אַחֲרִית (acharit, H319) — “what comes after, the end, the future.” The word looks beyond the present to how things finally turn out. For the one who fears God, that outcome is good.

See also: Psalm 37:1-2.

Proverbs 23:19-21

The father asks his son to listen, be wise and steer his own heart onto the straight road. Part of that is avoiding companions who live for wine and feasting. Such a life ends in poverty, and idle drowsiness leaves a man dressed in rags.

BSA: guide (“lead, direct”): The heart does not steer itself well. You must take hold of it and point it the right way. drowsiness (“a state of sleepiness, laziness”): Over-indulgence dulls a person into sleepy idleness, and idleness ends in want.

See also: Proverbs 20:1; Ephesians 5:18.

Proverbs 23:22

The one who gave you life deserves your attention, and that does not end when your parents grow old. Frail parents may seem to have less to offer, but to despise them is to scorn your own source. Honor continues across the whole of their lives.

BSA: despise (“hold in contempt, show disrespect”): The danger is a quiet contempt for aging parents, not only open rebellion.

See also: Exodus 20:12; Ephesians 6:1-2.

Proverbs 23:23

Truth, wisdom, instruction and understanding are worth buying at any price. Once you have them, you should never sell them, even if someone offers a high price to give them up. They cost effort, but nothing on earth is worth more.

BSA: Invest (“buy, acquire”): Wisdom has a cost in time and effort, and the verse says to pay it gladly.

Hebrew: קְנֵה (qeneh, H7069) — “buy, acquire.” The Hebrew is a plain command to buy. The truth is treated as a treasure to be purchased and kept, not as a free extra.

See also: Matthew 13:44-46.

Proverbs 23:24-25

A righteous, wise child is a deep joy to his parents. The father will rejoice and the mother will be glad. The wish in verse 25 is also an appeal to the child. Your way of life can bring your parents joy, and that is a good reason to choose wisdom.

BSA: rejoice (“be exceedingly glad, experience joy”): This is overflowing gladness, not mere approval.

Proverbs 23:26

The father asks for something more than obedience. He asks for his son’s heart. Wisdom has to be wanted from the inside. The son is to enjoy the way his father walks, watching it and delighting in it rather than just following rules.

BSA: heart (“inner being, emotions, and will”): Here the heart means the whole inner person, including feelings and choices.

See also: Matthew 22:37.

Proverbs 23:27-28

Sexual immorality is like a deep pit, easy to fall into and hard to climb out of. The immoral woman waits like a robber and takes much more than money. She adds to the number of the faithless. The warning holds just as much for men who tempt others.

BSA: pit (“ditch, hollow”): It is a trap dug into the ground. You walk in easily and cannot get out. faithless (“unfaithful, treacherous, acting deceitfully”): Adultery breaks promises, and it teaches others to break theirs too.

Hebrew: שׁוּחָה (shuchah, H7745) — “pit.” This is the word for a hunter’s pit. It suggests a trap dug in secret and covered over.

See also: Proverbs 7:25-27.

Proverbs 23:29-30

The questions are heaped up on purpose. Woe, sorrow, quarrels, complaints, needless wounds and bloodshot eyes all belong to the same person. The answer is the man who lingers over wine, always going back for more, always trying new mixtures. Drink promises pleasure and delivers a long list of troubles.

BSA: woe (“sorrow, deep grief”): The list begins with a deep cry of grief before it moves to smaller troubles. linger (“tarry long, delay”): The trouble comes from staying too long, not from one sip.

See also: Isaiah 5:11.

Proverbs 23:31-32

Wine is made to look attractive. It is red, it sparkles and it goes down easily. The warning is not to stare at it with desire. Its end is like a snakebite, which first seems harmless and then poisons the whole body. What starts as pleasure turns on you.

BSA: snake (“a viper, a poisonous serpent”): The pleasure is smooth, but the harm that follows is deadly.

See also: Ephesians 5:18.

Proverbs 23:33

Drunkenness distorts both sight and speech. The eyes see strange things, and the mind says twisted things. A person loses his hold on what is real and says what he would never say sober. It ruins his judgment and also his words.

BSA: strange things (“perverse women, weird visions”): The Hebrew can mean strange sights or strange women, and either way drink pulls a person toward things he would normally avoid.

Proverbs 23:34-35

The drunk is like a man asleep in the middle of the sea, or on top of a swaying mast. He is in great danger and does not know it. He is beaten and feels nothing, and when he wakes his only thought is to find another drink. This is slavery.

BSA: mast (“a tall pole supporting a ship’s sail, or sail-support”): To sleep up there is to sleep in the most dangerous place, with no sense of the danger. another (“more, additional”): The last words show that the drink has taken control, and the craving never ends.