1.
When thou sittest to eat with a ruler, consider diligently what is before thee:
What is before thee - Beware lest dainties tempt thee to excess. Or, “consider diligently who is before thee,” the character and temper of the ruler who invites thee.
2.
And put a knife to thy throat, if thou be a man given to appetite.
i. e., “Restrain thy appetite, eat as if the knife were at thy throat.” Others render the words “thou wilt put a knife to thy throat” etc., i. e., “indulgence at such a time may endanger thy very life.”
3.
Be not desirous of his dainties: for they are deceitful meat.
Dainties ... deceitful meat - Such as “savory meat,” venison Genesis 27:4, offered not from genuine hospitality, but with some by-ends.
4.
Labour not to be rich: cease from thine own wisdom.
Cease from thine own wisdom - i. e., “Cease from the use of what is in itself most excellent, if it only serves to seek after wealth, and so ministers to evil.” There is no special contrast between “thine own wisdom” and that given from above, though it is of course implied that in ceasing from his own prudence the man is on the way to attain a higher 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.
Set thine eyes - literally, as in the margin, i. e., “gaze eagerly upon;” and then we get an emphatic parallelism with the words that follow, “they fly away as an eagle toward heaven;” “certainly make themselves wings.”
6.
Eat thou not the bread of him that hath an evil eye, neither desire thou his dainty meats:
A different danger from that of Proverbs 23:1. The hazard here is the hospitality of the purse-proud rich, avaricious or grudging even in his banquets.
Evil eye - Not with the later associations of a mysterious power for mischief, but simply, as in the margin ref. and in Matthew 20:15.
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.
Thinketh - The Hebrew verb is found here only, and probably means, “as he is all along in his heart, so is he (at last) in act.”
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.
The “fool” here is one willfully and persistently deaf to it, almost identical with the scorner.
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.
The reason is given for the precept Proverbs 23:10.
Their redeemer - See Job 19:25 note. It was the duty of the גאל gā'al, the next of kin, to take on himself, in case of murder, the office of avenger of blood Numbers 35:19. By a slight extension the word was applied to one who took on himself a like office in cases short of this. Here, therefore, the thought is that, destitute as the fatherless may seem, there is One who claims them as His next of kin, and will avenge them. Yahweh Himself is in this sense their גאל gā'al, their Redeemer.
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.