Proverbs 23: Don't be fooled by what looks good | Bible study
Fancy food, lots of money and too much wine look good, but they can trick you and hurt you. A dad asks his child to listen, to love what is true, and to make Mum and Dad glad.
You do not have to be a parent or a child to learn from this father's advice. Women and men of every age can practise self-control, accept wise correction and consider where their choices lead.
Proverbs 23:1
When you sit down to eat with a ruler, think carefully about what is in front of you.
When you sit down to eat with a ruler,
The setting is a meal at the table of someone powerful. For a young official this was both an honor and a test.
think hard about what is in front of you,
Pay attention to the situation. The food is in front of you, and so is the ruler, who is watching how you behave. The meal is not really about eating.
לחם · lacham · eat
A less common verb for eating, from the same root as lechem, bread. It returns in verse 6.
מושל · moshel · one who rules
From mashal, to rule. Any person with governing authority, not only a king.
בין · bin · discern
The verb is doubled in Hebrew for emphasis: discerning, discern. It is the word for telling one thing from another.
The Words of the Wise were written for people who might serve at court. Egyptian wisdom books give very similar advice about eating at a great man's table: watch yourself, eat what is given, and do not show greed.
The Hebrew can mean 'what is before you', the food, or 'who is before you', the ruler. Both fit, and the saying may intend both.
Proverbs 23:2
If you love to eat a lot, hold yourself back as hard as you can.
and put a knife to your throat
A deliberately violent picture of self-control. Hold your appetite back as if your life depended on it. At that table, your career might.
if you are someone with a big appetite.
The advice is aimed at the person who knows he tends to overdo it. He is called an 'owner of appetite'; the point is that he must be its owner and not the other way round.
שכין · sakkin · knife
The word occurs only here in the Old Testament.
לע · loa · throat, gullet
The gullet, the part that swallows. This word too occurs only here.
בעל נפש · ba'al nephesh · owner of appetite
Ba'al is owner; nephesh, usually soul or life, also means throat and so appetite. A person given to his hunger.
Proverbs 23:3
Don't long for his fancy food. It is not as friendly as it looks.
Do not crave his fine dishes,
The command goes behind the behavior to the wanting. Do not let the rich food become something you long for.
for it is food that lies.
The reason. The food looks like friendship and generosity, but it is not what it appears to be. The ruler may be testing you, or putting you in his debt. A meal that seems free comes with strings.
אוה · avah · crave
To crave or long for. The identical command comes again in verse 6.
מטעמים · mat'ammim · tasty dishes
From a root meaning to taste. The word for the savory dish Isaac asked for in Genesis 27:4.
כזב · kazav · a lie
A lie, something that fails what it promised. The Hebrew is literally 'bread of lies'.
לחם · lechem · bread, food
Bread, and so food in general.
Proverbs 23:4
Don't wear yourself out trying to get rich. Stop thinking about it all the time.
Do not wear yourself out to get rich;
The warning is not against work or against having money. It is against making wealth the goal and exhausting yourself for it.
have the sense to stop.
Literally, 'cease from your own understanding'. Either: be wise enough to quit, or: stop relying on your own clever plans for getting rich. Both tell the reader to give up the chase.
יגע · yaga · toil to exhaustion
To labor until you are worn out.
עשר · ashar · become rich
The verb from the same root as osher, wealth, and ashir, a rich person.
חדל · chadal · cease, leave off
To stop doing something, to let it be.
The second line is literally 'from your understanding (binah), cease'. Some versions take it as 'because of your understanding, stop', others as 'stop trusting your own understanding'. NASB's 'stop dwelling on it' takes the understanding to be the thought spent on wealth.
Proverbs 23:5
Look at your money for a moment, and it is gone. It grows wings and flies off into the sky like an eagle.
Let your eyes fly to it and it is gone,
The reason for verse 4. You glance at your wealth and it has already disappeared. The Hebrew says your eyes 'fly' to it, the same verb used for the eagle below.
for it is sure to grow itself wings
Wealth is pictured as a creature that sprouts wings on its own. No one has to take it from you. Leaving is in its nature.
and fly off into the sky like an eagle.
The picture is completed. An eagle rises fast and high, out of reach. What you wore yourself out for cannot be caught again.
עוף · uph · fly
Literally 'will you make your eyes fly on it?' The same verb, fly, is used for the eagle in the third line. Your eyes fly to it and it flies away.
עין · ayin · eye
The first of many eyes in this chapter. Here they are fixed on money.
כנף · kanaph · wing
A wing. The Hebrew doubles the verb: making, it will make itself wings. It is certain.
נשר · nesher · eagle, vulture
A large soaring bird, eagle or vulture. Its speed and height were proverbial (2 Samuel 1:23).
עוף · uph · fly
The verb of the first line, now said of the wealth itself.
English loses the wordplay. The first line is literally 'do your eyes fly upon it? It is not'. The verb is the same one used for the eagle flying away.
Proverbs 23:6
Don't eat the food of a stingy person. Don't wish for his tasty treats.
Do not eat the food of a man with a grudging eye,
A second meal to be careful at. This host is stingy; the Hebrew calls him 'evil of eye'. He begrudges every bite you take.
and do not crave his fine dishes,
The exact words of verse 3. Whether the host is a calculating ruler or a miser, the advice is the same: do not let good food draw you to a table where you are not truly welcome.
לחם · lacham · eat
The verb of verse 1. The Hebrew plays on it: do not 'bread' the bread of the stingy man.
לחם · lechem · bread, food
Bread, food. In verse 3 it was bread of lies; here it is bread given grudgingly.
רע עין · ra ayin · evil of eye
Literally evil of eye: stingy, begrudging. The exact opposite of the 'good of eye' person in Proverbs 22:9. The phrase appears again in 28:22.
אוה · avah · crave
The same verb as verse 3.
מטעמים · mat'ammim · tasty dishes
The same word as verse 3.
Proverbs 23:7
Inside, he is counting what you cost him. He says, Eat and drink! But in his heart he does not mean it.
for he is like someone keeping count inside himself.
The reason to stay away. While you eat, he is totalling up what you cost him. What he is inwardly, a man counting, is what he really is, whatever he says aloud.
'Eat, drink,' he tells you,
His words are those of a generous host. This is the surface.
but his heart is not with you.
This is the reality behind the words. His mouth invites; his heart resents. The contrast between the two lines is the whole point: do not judge a host by what he says.
שער · sha'ar · calculate, reckon
A verb found only here in the Old Testament, understood as to calculate or set a price. He is working out the cost of your meal.
נפש · nephesh · soul, inner self
Literally 'in his soul'. The same word meant appetite in verse 2.
לב · lev · heart, mind
The inner person, where he really is. The first of many hearts in this chapter.
The first line is difficult. The verb occurs nowhere else, and the ancient Greek translation read the same letters as 'hair': 'like a hair in the throat'. The familiar wording 'as he thinks in his heart, so is he' is often quoted as a general truth about thoughts shaping character, but in context it describes a stingy host whose inner reckoning contradicts his words.
Proverbs 23:8
You will feel sick about the little bit you ate, and all your kind words will be wasted.
The bite you ate you will throw up,
When you realise what the meal really was, it will turn your stomach. The food gives you no benefit and no pleasure once you know it was begrudged.
and your pleasant words will have been wasted.
The thanks and friendly conversation you offered at his table were thrown away. They bought no goodwill, because there was none to be had.
קיא · qi · vomit
To vomit. A strong picture of disgust and of gaining nothing from what was eaten.
פת · pat · piece of bread
A broken-off piece of bread. It was only a mouthful, and even that was resented.
שחת · shachat · ruin, spoil
To ruin or destroy. The words are not just unrewarded; they are spoiled.
נעים · na'im · pleasant
The Hebrew is 'your pleasant words'. The adjective is the one used of the pleasantness of wise sayings in Proverbs 22:18.
Proverbs 23:9
Don't bother talking sense to a fool. He will only look down on your wise words.
Do not speak into the ears of a fool,
Do not spend serious words on a person who has no intention of learning. This is the kesil, the fool who is dull and satisfied with himself.
for he will look down on the good sense of what you say.
The reason. He will not weigh your words and disagree; he will treat them with contempt. The better the advice, the more he scorns it, so the effort is wasted and you are insulted.
דבר · dabar · speak
To speak. The Hebrew is literally 'in the ears of a fool do not speak', meaning directly to him.
כסיל · kesil · dull, thick fool
The thick, self-confident fool. He is not unable to understand; he does not want to.
בוז · buz · hold in contempt
To look down on. The word returns in verse 22, about a son and his mother.
שכל · sekel · good sense, insight
Insight or good sense. It comes from the same root as 'wise behavior' in Proverbs 1:3.
Proverbs 23:10
Don't move the old stones that mark whose land is whose. Don't take fields from children who have no father.
Do not shift the age-old boundary marker,
The same command as Proverbs 22:28. Moving a boundary stone was a quiet way of stealing land.
and do not move in on the fields of the fatherless,
This names the likeliest victims. A child with no father had no one to stand up for his land in court, so his fields were the easiest to take.
סוג · sug · move back, displace
In the causative form used here, to push a marker back from its place.
עולם · olam · long ages
Time stretching far back. The boundary is older than anyone's memory.
גבול · gevul · border, landmark
A border, and the stone that marks it.
שדה · sadeh · field
Open farmland. A family's fields were its living.
יתום · yatom · orphan
A child without a father. With the widow and the foreigner, the orphan is the person the law most often tells Israel to protect (Deuteronomy 24:17).
Family land was marked by stones at its corners. Moving a neighbor's marker is forbidden in Deuteronomy 19:14 and cursed in Deuteronomy 27:17. A fatherless child had no adult male to defend the family's claim before the elders.
Proverbs 23:11
The One who looks after them is strong. He will stand up for them against you.
for their Redeemer is strong;
The reason. The orphan seems to have no relative to defend him, but he has one. God takes the place of the family protector, and he is stronger than the land-grabber.
he will take up their case against you.
The picture moves to court. God acts as the orphan's advocate, and the thief finds himself the accused. Nearly the same thing was said about the poor in Proverbs 22:23.
גאל · go'el · kinsman-redeemer
The nearest male relative, whose duty was to buy back family land and defend family members (Leviticus 25:25). Boaz acts as one in Ruth 4.
חזק · chazaq · strong, mighty
Strong, powerful. The orphan looked defenseless; his defender is not.
ריב · riv · contend, argue a case
To contend in a lawsuit. The Hebrew uses the verb with its noun: he will plead their plea, as in 22:23.
The go'el was a family's legal protector. If land was lost through debt he was to buy it back, and if a relative was wronged he was to see justice done. The proverb says God himself fills this role for those with no family left to do it.
Proverbs 23:12
Set your heart on being taught, and open your ears to wise words.
Bring your heart to correction,
A fresh call to attention, like Proverbs 22:17. The heart has to be brought, which means deliberately presenting your inner self to be taught and corrected.
and your ears to words of knowledge.
The partner line adds the ears. Inner willingness and outward listening go together. Before telling parents to discipline their children in the next verse, the teacher tells the student to accept discipline himself.
בוא · bo · come, bring
The causative form of the verb to come: make your heart come. Attention is something you bring, not something that happens to you.
לב · lev · heart, mind
The inner person. The word is used seven more times before the chapter ends.
מוסר · musar · discipline, correction
Correction that trains. The same word is used in the next verse for what a parent gives a child.
אזן · ozen · ear
The ear. In verse 9 the fool's ears were not worth speaking into; the student's are to be offered.
דעת · da'at · knowledge
Knowledge that comes from experience and relationship.
Proverbs 23:13
Don't hold back from correcting a child. If you punish him firmly, he will not die.
Do not hold back correction from a child;
This is spoken to parents. The temptation is to avoid the unpleasant work of correcting. The proverb treats that as depriving the child of something he needs.
if you strike him with the rod, he will not die.
This answers the parent's reluctance. The discipline will not kill him. The next verse goes further and says it is the lack of discipline that puts his life at risk.
מנע · mana · hold back
To keep something back from someone who should have it. Discipline is treated as something owed to a child.
מוסר · musar · discipline, correction
The word of verse 12. It covers instruction and rebuke as well as punishment.
נער · na'ar · young person
A young person, from a boy to a young man.
נכה · nakah · strike, hit
To strike. The verb returns in verse 35, where the drunk is struck and learns nothing.
שבט · shevet · rod, staff
A stick or staff. Also the shepherd's rod (Psalm 23:4) and a ruler's sceptre.
Physical correction of children was the normal practice across the ancient world and is assumed here. The proverb's own concern is the purpose stated in verse 14: the child's life. It gives no support to harm done in anger; Proverbs elsewhere condemns the 'rod of fury' (22:8).
Proverbs 23:14
Punish him yourself when he needs it, and you will save him from an early death.
You yourself must strike him with the rod,
The 'you' is emphasised in Hebrew. This is the parent's own job and cannot be left to someone else or to chance.
and you will rescue his life from the grave.
This is the purpose, and it reverses the fear in verse 13. Correction does not endanger the child; it saves him. An uncorrected child grows into the kind of adult whose folly leads to an early death.
נכה · nakah · strike, hit
Repeated from verse 13.
שבט · shevet · rod, staff
Repeated from verse 13.
נצל · natsal · snatch away, deliver
To snatch out of danger. The word used for delivering prey from a predator's mouth.
נפש · nephesh · soul, life
His life, his whole self.
שאול · she'ol · the grave
The realm of the dead. Here it means premature death, the end Proverbs says folly leads to.
Proverbs 23:15
My child, if your heart is wise, my heart will be glad too.
My son, if your heart is wise,
The father speaks personally. What he hopes for is not his son's success but a wise heart: an inner life that has taken wisdom in.
my heart will be glad, mine too.
The result is shared joy. The Hebrew stresses 'even I': the son's wisdom benefits the son first, and it also makes the father glad. The son's heart and the father's heart are tied together.
חכם · chakam · be wise
The verb to be wise, from the root of chokmah.
לב · lev · heart, mind
The word appears in both lines: your heart, my heart.
שמח · samach · be glad
To be glad, to rejoice. It comes back three times in verses 24 and 25.
Proverbs 23:16
I will be happy deep inside when you say what is right.
My deepest self will celebrate
The father describes joy at the deepest level he can name. The Hebrew says 'my kidneys', the seat of the strongest feelings.
when your lips say what is right.
This is how the wise heart of verse 15 shows itself: in speech. The father will know his son's heart is wise when he hears him say things that are straight and true.
כליות · kelayot · kidneys
Literally the kidneys. Hebrew places a person's deepest emotions and conscience there, as English does with the heart or gut.
עלז · alaz · exult
To exult, to be jubilant. A stronger word than the glad of verse 15.
שפה · saphah · lip, speech
The lips as the place where speech comes out.
מישרים · mesharim · straightness, what is right
From yashar, straight. Honest, upright things. The same word is used in a very different way in verse 31.
Proverbs 23:17
Don't wish you were like people who do wrong. Keep on respecting God every day.
Do not let your heart envy sinners,
People who ignore God often seem to do well and enjoy themselves. The warning is not to let your heart want what they have.
but be zealous for the fear of the LORD all day long.
The Hebrew uses one verb for both lines. It means to burn with strong feeling, either envy or zeal. Turn that energy away from sinners and toward revering God, and keep it there constantly.
לב · lev · heart, mind
Envy begins in the heart, before it shows in anything you do.
קנא · qana · be envious, be zealous
To burn with envy or with zeal; the same verb covers both. The noun from it describes God as jealous for his people.
חטאים · chatta · habitual sinners
From a verb meaning to miss the mark. People for whom it is a way of life.
יראה · yir'ah · reverent awe
Taking God with full seriousness. The foundation of the book (1:7).
The second line has no verb of its own in Hebrew; it reads 'but rather in the fear of the LORD all the day'. NASB supplies 'live'. The verb of the first line probably carries over: do not be envious of sinners, but be zealous for the fear of the LORD.
Proverbs 23:18
There really is a good future ahead. What you hope for will not be taken away.
For there surely is a future,
The reason not to envy sinners. Their good time is only the present. There is an afterward, and the one who fears the LORD has a good one.
and your hope will not be cut off.
The promise put the other way round. What you are waiting for will not be snapped off before it arrives. Envy looks at today; this verse makes you look at how things end.
אחרית · acharit · what comes after, the end
From a root meaning behind or after. The outcome, how a thing turns out. Verse 32 uses the same word for how wine turns out.
תקוה · tiqvah · hope, expectation
From a root that means to wait, and also a cord. Hope is what you hold on to while you wait.
כרת · karat · cut off
To cut, to sever. Nearly the same sentence appears in Proverbs 24:14.
Proverbs 23:19
Listen, my child, and be wise. Keep your heart on the right path.
Listen, you, my son, and become wise,
Another call to attention, opening the warning about drink that follows. Listening comes first and wisdom is its result.
and steer your heart straight along the way.
The heart is pictured as something to be guided down a road. It does not stay on course by itself; you have to direct it.
שמע · shama · hear and heed
Hebrew does not separate hearing from obeying. It opens verse 22 as well.
חכם · chakam · be wise
The verb of verse 15, now a command.
אשר · ashar · go straight, advance
To go straight on. The same verb is used in Proverbs 4:14 and 9:6 for walking a road.
לב · lev · heart, mind
The heart has to be led. Left alone, it wanders.
דרך · derek · road, way of life
A road, and so a manner of life. Here it is the right road, with no need to say which.
Proverbs 23:20
Don't spend time with people who drink too much wine or stuff themselves with meat.
Do not be among those who soak themselves in wine,
Like Proverbs 22:24, this is a warning about company. It does not say never drink. It says do not be found in the group that drinks to excess.
or among those who gorge themselves on meat,
Overeating is put beside overdrinking as the same fault: appetite with no limit. Meat was expensive, so gorging on it also meant squandering money.
סבא · sava · drink heavily
To drink to excess. The form here means habitual drunkards.
יין · yayin · wine
The ordinary word for wine. It returns in verses 30 and 31.
זלל · zalal · be a glutton, squander
To be lavish or worthless, and so to be a glutton. The same pair, glutton and drunkard, describes the rebellious son in Deuteronomy 21:20.
בשר · basar · flesh, meat
Flesh. Ordinary people ate meat rarely, mostly at feasts.
Proverbs 23:21
People who drink and eat too much end up poor. All that sleepiness will leave them dressed in rags.
for the drunkard and the glutton will lose everything,
The reason. These habits cost money and destroy the ability to earn it. The end is poverty.
and drowsiness will dress a person in rags.
This explains how it happens. Heavy eating and drinking make a person sluggish and sleepy, so the work is not done. Sleepiness is pictured as a servant handing him his clothes, and the clothes are torn rags.
סבא · sava · drink heavily
The word of verse 20, now singular.
זלל · zalal · be a glutton, squander
The word of verse 20, now singular.
ירש · yarash · be dispossessed
The verb means to take possession. In the passive form used here it means to be dispossessed, stripped of what you had. Also in Proverbs 20:13.
נומה · numah · slumber
From a verb meaning to be drowsy. The noun occurs only here.
קרעים · qera'im · torn pieces
From the verb to tear. Torn clothing.
Proverbs 23:22
Listen to your dad, who gave you life. Don't look down on your mum when she is old.
Listen to your father; he gave you life,
The reason to listen is built into the line: this is the man you owe your existence to. He has a claim on your attention that no one else has.
and do not look down on your mother when she has grown old.
The mother stands beside the father. The specific danger is contempt for an aged parent, when she is weaker and seems out of date. Her age is a reason for more respect, not less.
שמע · shama · hear and heed
The verb of verse 19: hear and act on it.
ילד · yalad · beget, give birth
The same verb is used for a father begetting and a mother giving birth. It returns for both parents in verses 24 and 25.
בוז · buz · hold in contempt
The verb of verse 9. To treat your mother this way is to act as the fool does toward wise words.
זקן · zaqen · grow old
To become old. The fifth commandment, to honor father and mother, has aged parents especially in view.
Proverbs 23:23
Get the truth, whatever it costs, and never sell it. Get wisdom, teaching and understanding too.
Buy truth and do not sell it;
Truth is pictured as goods in a market. Pay whatever it costs to get it, and never give it up for any price offered. Everything else can be traded; this cannot.
buy wisdom, discipline and understanding.
Three more things on the same shopping list. In the Hebrew this line has no verb of its own; 'buy and do not sell' covers all four. Each costs effort and humility to acquire, and each is worth more than what it costs.
קנה · qanah · get, buy
To acquire by purchase. Proverbs 4:5 and 4:7 use the same verb: get wisdom, whatever it costs.
אמת · emet · truth, faithfulness
From a root meaning firm. What is reliable and holds up.
מכר · makar · sell
To sell. People sell truth when they give it up for money, approval or comfort.
חכמה · chokmah · skill
Skill at living. The noun behind the wise heart of verse 15.
מוסר · musar · discipline, correction
The discipline of verses 12 and 13. Here it is something you pay to get.
בינה · binah · insight
The ability to tell things apart. The same three nouns stand together in Proverbs 1:2.
Proverbs 23:24
The dad of a child who does right will be full of joy. Anyone with a wise child will be so glad.
The father of a righteous child will be overjoyed,
A general statement of what verse 15 said personally. The verb is doubled in Hebrew for emphasis: he will rejoice and rejoice.
and whoever fathers a wise child will be glad of him.
The same thought again, with wise in place of righteous. Proverbs treats the two as one: the wise person is the one who does right, and such a child is a parent's happiness.
צדיק · tsaddiq · righteous person
One who is in the right and does right. Set parallel with wise in the next line.
גיל · gil · rejoice, exult
To exult, with a sense of shouting or spinning for joy. The verb is written twice here for emphasis.
ילד · yalad · beget, give birth
The verb of verse 22.
חכם · chakam · wise person
The adjective from the same root as the verb in verses 15 and 19.
שמח · samach · be glad
The word of verse 15.
Proverbs 23:25
So make your dad and mum glad. Give joy to the mother who gave birth to you.
May your father and your mother be glad,
The statement of verse 24 becomes a wish addressed to the son. He is the one who can make it come true.
and may she who bore you rejoice.
The mother is singled out. She carried and delivered him, and the line asks that the one who paid most for his life be repaid with joy. It answers the warning in verse 22 not to despise her.
שמח · samach · be glad
The third use of this verb, after verses 15 and 24.
אם · em · mother
The mother of verse 22, now sharing the joy.
גיל · gil · rejoice, exult
The stronger verb of verse 24, given here to the mother.
ילד · yalad · beget, give birth
The third use of the verb: the father in verses 22 and 24, the mother here.
Proverbs 23:26
My child, give me your heart. Let your eyes enjoy watching the way I live.
My son, give me your heart,
The father asks for more than obedience. He wants his son's inner loyalty and trust, the place where decisions are made. He asks before describing the danger in verse 27, because whoever has the heart decides where the son goes.
and let your eyes take pleasure in my ways.
The eyes follow the heart. The son is to watch how his father lives and find it good. The alternative, in the next verses, is letting his eyes be caught by the wrong woman.
נתן · natan · give
To give. The heart cannot be taken; it has to be handed over.
לב · lev · heart, mind
The centre of the chapter's concern. In verse 7 the host's heart was withheld; here the father asks for his son's.
עין · ayin · eye
What the eyes rest on, the heart follows. Compare the eyes fixed on wealth in verse 5 and on wine in verse 31.
רצה · ratsah · be pleased with
To take pleasure in, to accept with favor.
דרך · derek · road, way of life
The father's manner of life, offered as a pattern.
The Hebrew has two readings that differ by the order of two letters. The written text says 'let your eyes delight in my ways'; the reading in the margin says 'let your eyes observe (keep) my ways'. NASB follows the written text.
Proverbs 23:27
A woman who sells her love, or who is married to someone else, is a trap like a deep pit or a narrow well.
For a prostitute is a deep pit,
The reason for the plea in verse 26. She is compared to a pit dug to trap animals. It looks like nothing from above, and once you are in you cannot get out.
and a woman who is not yours is a narrow well.
A second picture of the same thing. A well with a narrow shaft gives a person who falls in no room to move or climb. The two lines cover both the woman who sells sex and another man's wife.
זונה · zonah · prostitute
A woman who sells sex. The related verb is the Old Testament's regular picture for unfaithfulness to God.
שוחה עמקה · shuchah amuqqah · deep pit
The same two words as Proverbs 22:14, where the pit is the mouth of forbidden women.
נכריה · nokriyah · foreign, outside woman
Literally a foreign woman. In Proverbs it means a woman outside the bounds of your own marriage, often another man's wife (2:16; 7:5).
באר צרה · be'er tsarah · tight well
Be'er is a well; tsarah means narrow or tight. The related noun means distress, a tight place.
Proverbs 23:28
She hides and waits like a robber. Because of her, more and more men break their promises.
Yes, she lies in wait like a bandit,
She is not passive. Like a robber by the road, she watches for a victim. The young man thinks he is pursuing her; in fact he is the one being hunted.
and she adds to the number of the unfaithful among men.
The wider damage. Every man she catches becomes a traitor to someone: his wife, his family, his God. She multiplies broken faith in the community.
ארב · arab · lie in ambush
To lie in wait. The verb used of the gang in Proverbs 1:11 and of the same kind of woman in 7:12.
חתף · chetef · one who snatches
From a root meaning to seize or snatch. The noun occurs only here.
יסף · yasaph · add, increase
To add. The same verb appears in the last line of the chapter, where the drunk goes back for more.
בגד · boged · one who betrays
From a verb meaning to act faithlessly. It is used of breaking faith in marriage (Malachi 2:14).
Proverbs 23:29
Who is sad and sorry? Who is always fighting and grumbling? Who has bruises for no reason, and red eyes?
Who has 'Oh no'? Who has 'Alas'?
A riddle begins. The two Hebrew words, oy and avoy, are not nouns but groans. Who goes around groaning?
Who has fights? Who has endless complaints?
Two more symptoms. This person is always quarreling with someone and always has a grievance to talk about.
Who has bruises for no reason?
He is injured and cannot say how. There was no good cause for the fight or the fall; he just woke up hurt.
Who has bloodshot eyes?
The last clue is visible on his face. Six questions pile up a picture of misery before the answer is given in the next verse.
אוי · oy · a cry of pain
The cry itself, like 'oh!' or 'woe!', used as if it were a thing a person owns.
אבוי · avoy · a groan
Another cry of distress, chosen to rhyme with oy. It occurs only here.
מדון · madon · contention
Quarrels, in the plural. Drink makes people fight.
שיח · siach · complaint, brooding talk
Talk that goes over and over a matter. It can be meditation or, as here, complaint.
פצע · petsa · bruise, wound
A wound from a blow.
חכללות · chaklilut · dullness or redness
A word found only here. A related word describes eyes darkened with wine in Genesis 49:12. It means either red or dull and glazed.
Proverbs 23:30
It is the people who sit for hours over their wine, always trying another strong drink.
Those who stay late over wine,
The answer to the riddle. It is not the person who drinks a cup but the one who cannot leave it, who is still there long after others have gone.
those who go looking to sample mixed wine.
A second mark of the same person. He goes out of his way to find drink and treats it as a study, searching out new and stronger blends.
אחר · achar · delay, stay behind
To delay or tarry. From the same root as acharit, the end, in verses 18 and 32.
יין · yayin · wine
The word of verse 20.
חקר · chaqar · search out, investigate
To search out or examine thoroughly. It is the verb for investigating a legal case or exploring a land. He researches his drink.
ממסך · mimsak · blended wine
Wine mixed with spices to make it stronger or more flavorful. The word also appears in Isaiah 65:11.
Proverbs 23:31
Don't stare at wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup and goes down so smoothly.
Do not gaze at wine when it glows red,
The warning begins with the eyes. The danger starts with looking at the wine with longing, before any is drunk.
when it gives its gleam in the cup,
The Hebrew says the wine 'gives its eye' in the cup. It sparkles, as if it were looking back at you. This is the moment of attraction.
when it glides down easily.
The third attraction is how pleasant it is to swallow. The verse lists everything appealing about wine, its color, its sparkle and its smoothness, and the next verse says how it ends.
ראה · ra'ah · see, look at
To look at. The same verb comes back in verse 33 for what the drinker's eyes end up seeing.
יין · yayin · wine
Third time in the chapter.
אדם · adam · be red
The verb to be red, in a form that means it shows itself red. From the same root as the word for blood-red and for Edom.
עין · ayin · eye, gleam
Literally 'it gives its eye in the cup'. Eye here means gleam or appearance. The wine's eye catches yours.
כוס · kos · cup
A drinking cup.
מישרים · mesharim · straightness, smoothness
The word for right things in verse 16. Literally the wine 'walks about in straightness'. The same expression is used of wine in Song of Songs 7:9.
Proverbs 23:32
In the end it bites like a snake. It stings like a snake full of poison.
Afterward it bites like a snake
The contrast with verse 31. Wine's beginning is color and smoothness; its end is a snakebite. The harm is real, and it comes after the pleasure, when it is too late to avoid.
and strikes like a viper.
The picture is repeated with a more dangerous snake. The effect of heavy drinking is compared to venom spreading through the body, which the next verses describe.
אחרית · acharit · what comes after, the end
The word for future in verse 18. The one who fears the LORD has a good acharit; wine has a poisonous one.
נשך · nashak · bite
To bite, used especially of snakes (Numbers 21:6).
נחש · nachash · serpent
The general word for a snake, the same as in Genesis 3.
צפעני · tsiph'oni · poisonous snake
A venomous snake. The exact species is not known.
Proverbs 23:33
Your eyes will see strange things, and your mind will say mixed-up things.
Your eyes will see strange sights,
The first effect of the venom: the drunk cannot trust what he sees. The eyes that gazed at the wine in verse 31 now hallucinate.
and your heart will speak twisted things.
The second effect is inside. His mind produces confused and perverse talk, and it comes out of his mouth. The drunk loses control of both what comes in and what goes out.
עין · ayin · eye
The last of the chapter's eyes. They were meant to delight in a father's ways (verse 26).
זרה · zarah · strange things
A feminine plural of the word strange. It is the same form translated 'adulteress' in Proverbs 22:14, so it could also mean strange women.
לב · lev · heart, mind
The Hebrew is heart. The heart the father asked for in verse 26 is here surrendered to drink.
תהפכות · tahpukot · upside-down things
From a verb meaning to overturn. Things turned upside down, the opposite of the right things of verse 16.
'Strange things' could also be translated 'strange women', since the word is the one used for the forbidden woman in Proverbs. Drink and sexual folly were linked in verses 27 to 30, and the line may intend both.
Proverbs 23:34
You will feel like someone lying down in the middle of the rolling sea, or sleeping at the top of a ship's tall pole.
You will be like someone lying down in the heart of the sea,
A picture of the drunk's dizziness: he feels the ground rolling under him like a man lying on the open sea. It also shows his danger, since he is asleep where he could drown.
like someone lying down at the top of the rigging.
A second picture, more extreme. The highest point of a ship swings the widest. He is reeling, in the most dangerous place possible, and he has lain down to sleep there.
שכב · shakav · lie down
To lie down, usually to sleep. The word is repeated in both lines.
לב · lev · heart, mind
Literally 'in the heart of the sea'. Hebrew uses lev, heart, for the middle of something. It is the chapter's key word, used here for a place with nothing solid in it.
ים · yam · sea
The sea. Israelites were not a seafaring people, and for them the open sea was a picture of danger and chaos.
The word translated 'mast' occurs only here and its meaning is uncertain. It appears to be related to the word for rope, so it may mean the rigging or the lookout at the mast-head.
Proverbs 23:35
You will say, They hit me, but it didn't hurt. They beat me, and I never felt it. When will I wake up? I want another drink.
'They hit me, but I was not hurt;
The drunk now speaks for himself. He was in a fight, or fell, and felt nothing. This explains the unexplained wounds of verse 29.
they pounded me, but I did not notice.
He says it again, almost as a boast. The blows that should have taught him something did not even register. Drink has made him unteachable by pain.
When will I wake up?
He is still groggy and wants only for the stupor to pass.
I will go and look for it again.'
The punchline. After the woe, the bruises, the snakebite and the rolling sea, his first thought on waking is another drink. The portrait ends there, with no moral added. The sight of a man who cannot stop is the warning.
נכה · nakah · strike, hit
The verb of verses 13 and 14. There, blows from a parent saved a child; here, blows land on a grown man and teach him nothing.
הלם · halam · hammer, pound
To hammer. The verb used for Jael's blow with the mallet in Judges 5:26.
ידע · yada · know, perceive
To know by experience. He did not even feel it.
קיץ · qits · wake up
To wake from sleep.
בקש · baqash · seek, look for
To seek. With the verb 'add' before it, the Hebrew says literally 'I will add, I will seek it again'.