Proverbs 23 - Introduction

NOTICEABLE GROUPINGS IN CHAPTER 23

My son

My son, if thy heart be wise, My heart will be glad (Proverbs 23:15).

Hear thou, my son, and be wise (Proverbs 23:19).

My son, give me thy heart; And let thine eyes delight in my ways (Proverbs 23:26).

Parenthood

Withhold not correction from the child; For if thou beat him with the rod, he will not die. Thou shalt beat him with the rod, And shalt deliver his soul from Sheol (Proverbs 23:13-14). Hearken unto thy father that begat thee, And despise not thy mother when she is old (Proverbs 23:22).

The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice; And he that begetteth a wise child will have joy of him. Let thy father and thy mother be glad, And let her that bare thee rejoice (Proverbs 23:24-25).

Wine

Be not among winebibbers...For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty (Proverbs 23:20-21).

Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? Who hath complaining? who hath wounds without cause? Who hath redness of eyes? They that tarry long at the wine; They that go to seek out mixed wine. Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, When it sparkleth in the cup, When it goeth down smoothly: At the last it biteth like a serpent, And stingeth like an adder. Thine eyes shall be hold strange things, And thy heart shall utter perverse things. 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. They have stricken me, shalt thou say, And I was not hurt; They have beaten me, and I felt it not: When shall I awake? I will seek it again (Proverbs 23:29-35).

Eating

When thou sittest to eat with a ruler, Consider diligently him that is before thee; And put a knife to thy throat, If thou be a man given to appetite. Be not desirous of his dainties; Seeing they are deceitful food (Proverbs 23:1-3).

Eat thou not the bread of him that hath an evil eye, Neither desire thou his dainties: For as he thinketh within himself, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; But his heart is not with thee. The morsel which thou hast eaten shalt thou vomit up, And lose thy sweet words (Proverbs 23:6-8).

Deceit

Be not desirous of his dainties; Seeing they are deceitful food (Proverbs 23:3).

Eat and drink, saith he to thee; But his heart is not with thee (Proverbs 23:7).

Learning

Apply thy heart unto instruction, And thine ears to the words of knowledge (Proverbs 23:12).

Buy the truth, and sell it not; Yea, wisdom, and instruction, and understanding (Proverbs 23:23).