Chapter 23
1When you sit down to eat with one who rules, make sure you understand what is before you.
2And put a knife to your throat if you are given to appetite.
3Do not desire his delicacies, for it is deceptive food.
4Do not toil to gain riches; forgo your understanding.
5Do you glance at it, only for it to be gone? For it surely makes wings for itself; like an eagle it flies toward the sky.
6Do not eat the food of someone with an evil eye, and do not desire his delicacies.
7For as he has calculated within himself, so he is. “Eat and drink,” he says to you, but his heart is not with you.
8You will vomit up the morsel you ate, and you will have wasted your pleasant words.
9Do not speak in the ears of a fool, for he will despise the understanding in your words.
10Do not remove an ancient boundary, and do not enter the fields of orphans.
11For their Redeemer is strong; he will plead their case against you.
12Bring your heart to discipline and your ears to words of knowledge.
13Do not withhold discipline from a youth; if you strike him with the rod, he will not die.
14You are to strike him with the rod and rescue his life from Sheol.
15My son, if your heart is wise, my heart will rejoice, as will I.
16And my feelings will exult when your lips speak what is upright.
17Let your heart not envy sinners, but let it be in fear of the LORD all day.
18For surely there is an outcome, and your hope will not be cut off.
19You, my son, listen and be wise, and direct your heart along the way.
20Do not be among those who drink wine heavily, among those who lavish meat on themselves.
21For the heavy drinker and the squanderer become impoverished, and drowsiness clothes one in rags.
22Listen to your father, the one who begot you, and do not despise your mother when she is old.
23Buy truth, and do not sell it, wisdom, discipline, and understanding.
24The father of a righteous person surely rejoices, and one who begets a wise person rejoices in him.
25Let your father and your mother rejoice, and let the woman who bore you rejoice.
26Give your heart to me, my son, and let your eyes observe my conduct.
27For a woman who commits fornication is a deep pit, and a foreign woman is a narrow well.
28She also lies in wait like a robber and increases the number of those who act treacherously among mankind.
29Who has woe? Who has pain? Who has contentions? Who has a complaint? Who has wounds without cause? Who has dull eyes?
30Those who linger over wine, those who come to seek mixed drink.
31Do not look at wine when it grows red, when it sparkles in the cup, when it goes down smoothly.
22
Proverbs
Sayings of the Wise: Practical Moral Instruction (part 1)
Proverbs 22:17-23:31
Key words in this passage
Cross-references
Study notes
These sayings open by summoning the listener to incline the ear and apply the heart so that trust may rest in the LORD and truthful speech may answer those who send. The thirty instructions that follow address daily conduct in public and private spheres. They protect the poor and the orphan by warning that the LORD contends their cause, forbid rash pledges and angry companions that ensnare the soul, and require care at a ruler’s table where delicacies may mask deceit. The sequence also urges buying truth at any cost, honoring aged parents, and turning from the prostitute’s pit and the red wine that ends in dull eyes and rags. The repeated call to bring the heart to discipline frames every prohibition as the path that keeps hope from being cut off.
What is Sayings of the Wise: Practical Moral Instruction (part 1) about?
These verses begin with an appeal to listen and store instruction: incline the ear, apply the heart to knowledge, and keep the words in the belly so they rest on the lips. The stated purpose is straightforward—to ground trust in the LORD and to equip someone to answer truthfully when sent with a message. Thirty sayings follow, each aimed at daily conduct rather than abstract theory. They forbid taking advantage of the poor in court, warn against friendship with the quick-tempered, and prohibit standing surety when repayment is uncertain. Boundary stones set by earlier generations must stay in place, and fields belonging to orphans are off limits because a strong redeemer will take up their cause. Table manners at a ruler’s meal receive careful attention, as do the risks of chasing riches that sprout wings and the hidden motives behind a host’s hospitality. The section ends by tracing the ruin that comes from lingering over wine until the eyes grow dull. Placed after the shorter maxims of 22:1-16, these sayings turn from scattered observations to sustained moral training that the reader is expected to absorb and practice.
Where does this passage sit in Proverbs?
After the cluster of sayings that close at 22:16, the book shifts its address. The new block opens by repeating the call to incline the ear and store words in the belly, yet it now labels its material as thirty sayings written with counsel and knowledge. This numbering sets the unit apart from the preceding material in chapters 10–22, where no such count appears, and it signals a fresh sequence of instructions rather than an extension of the same collection.
Within the thirty sayings themselves, the movement runs from public justice to private restraint. The first two address the poor at the gate and the danger of a hot-tempered companion; the next forbid striking hands in pledge and moving an ancient boundary. Later sayings turn to conduct at a ruler’s table, the fleeting nature of sudden wealth, and the hidden intent behind a host’s hospitality. The sequence then returns to the boundary stone and the fields of orphans before turning to discipline of a son, the fear of the LORD, and warnings against wine. Each saying stands on its own, yet the repeated motifs of the poor, the boundary, and the heart’s inclination create a loose chain that carries the reader forward.
The block ends at 23:31 with the command not to look at wine when it is red and sparkles in the cup. The next pericope resumes at the point where that wine begins to bite, showing that the division between the two parts of the “sayings of the wise” is simply a pause inside one continuous warning rather than a change of subject. The thirty sayings therefore sit as a distinct but connected panel between the earlier Solomonic material and the additional sayings that follow.
How is the passage structured?
The opening address in 22:17-21 first directs the ear and heart toward the words of the wise, then states their purpose in a single sentence: trust in the LORD and the ability to return truthful answers to those who sent the listener. It closes by naming the thirty sayings that follow. The sayings themselves begin at once with paired prohibitions in 22:22-23 that concern the poor and the afflicted at the gate, each backed by the LORD's own contention. Three further short units follow in quick succession: the angry companion whose way becomes a snare, the pledge that risks the bed itself, and the ancient boundary that must remain untouched. A single positive portrait of the diligent worker standing before kings interrupts the sequence of warnings before the longer unit on the ruler's table begins at 23:1.
That unit stretches across three verses and introduces a sharper note of self-restraint with the command to set a knife to the throat. The sayings on riches that sprout wings and on the host whose heart is not with his guest continue the concern with deceptive surfaces. After the terse directive against speaking to a fool, the boundary and orphan sayings return in 23:10-11, now naming the strong redeemer who will contend. Direct address to a son appears at 23:15-16 and again at 23:19 and 23:22-26, each time urging the heart toward wisdom or parental honor and creating brief pauses within the list. The final block turns to wine through a chain of six questions that name woe, pain, strife, and wounds, then specifies those who linger over mixed wine and ends with the smooth descent of the red cup in 23:31.
What is the historical background?
In the world these sayings assume, justice was administered at the city gate, where elders and officials gathered to hear disputes. The poor and afflicted could be crushed there when those with power manipulated testimony or delayed decisions. A redeemer, typically a male relative, held the duty to intervene on behalf of vulnerable family members whose land or rights were threatened. The sayings therefore warn that taking fields belonging to orphans will bring that redeemer into direct conflict with the offender.
Land itself was marked by boundary stones set generations earlier. Moving them altered inheritance lines that families depended on for survival, and the practice was treated as a serious breach of ancestral order. Similar concern appears in the prohibition against standing surety for another’s debt. When repayment failed, the creditor could seize household goods, even the debtor’s bed, leaving the family without basic shelter.
Meals with a ruler carried their own expectations. A guest was expected to watch portions carefully and restrain appetite, since the host’s generosity might mask political motives rather than genuine welcome. The same wariness extends to wine. Mixed wine was served at banquets, and lingering over it produced the quarrels, wounds, and stupor the sayings describe. Young men received corporal discipline from parents or teachers; the staff was viewed as a tool that could correct without killing and thereby steer a child away from the grave.
Sheol, the common destination of the dead, functions here as the ultimate consequence of unchecked behavior. The sayings treat it as a real destination one can be rescued from through timely restraint. These details reflect a society in which family obligation, land tenure, public courts, and household discipline shaped daily decisions more directly than abstract moral theory.
What does this passage teach about God?
The opening appeal ties the entire collection to a single aim: that trust may be in the LORD. The sayings that follow treat this trust as the ground for concrete conduct rather than an abstract confession. When the poor are plundered or the afflicted crushed in the gate, the LORD himself contends their cause and will rob the soul of those who rob them. The same pattern appears with orphans whose fields must not be entered; their redeemer is strong and will contend their strife. In both cases the text presents God as the active defender of those who cannot defend themselves, not as a distant observer of moral order.
Human beings appear as creatures who must be taught to fear the LORD all the day, lest their hearts grow jealous of sinners. The command to bring the heart to discipline and the ear to the words of knowledge assumes that left to itself the heart drifts toward envy, greed, and the short-term gains of anger or drunkenness. Yet the same heart can be turned; the father who begets a wise son rejoices because upright lips and a disciplined life are possible when the son gives his heart and watches the father’s ways.
Sheol stands as the ultimate threat. Striking a youth with the staff is presented as rescue rather than mere punishment, because the alternative is the soul descending to Sheol. The prostitute is likewise a deep pit and a narrow well that increases the treacherous among men. These images locate danger not only in external consequences but in the loss of life itself when wisdom is refused.
The repeated call to incline the ear and apply the heart therefore functions as an invitation to align daily choices with the LORD who both protects the vulnerable and judges those who exploit them. Fear of the LORD is not one saying among many but the posture that keeps hope from being cut off even when an end comes.
What are the interpretive difficulties?
The reference to thirty sayings in 22:20 invites scrutiny because the material that follows does not divide into neat units of equal length. Some readers count thirty distinct admonitions running through 23:11, while others see the number as a conventional frame rather than a strict total. The text itself supplies no further indication of how the sayings should be tallied.
The instruction in 23:2 to set a knife to one’s throat if one is a master of soul has prompted differing views on its force. The phrasing may function as hyperbole urging strict self-control at a ruler’s table, yet it stops short of clarifying whether the danger lies in the food itself or in the host’s hidden calculations described two verses later. The same section leaves the precise nature of the “food of lies” unspecified, whether the deception consists in false hospitality or in the fleeting nature of the favor being offered.
In 23:11 the redeemer who will contend for the orphans is introduced without identifying whether the term points to the LORD, a human kinsman, or both. Earlier verses have already attributed similar action to the LORD in 22:23, but the present wording does not resolve whether the two statements intend the same agent.
The closing warning against wine in 23:29–31 catalogs the ruin that follows excessive drinking yet offers no explicit statement on whether moderate consumption remains permissible. The questions posed in 23:29 function rhetorically to associate certain behaviors with predictable outcomes, without supplying a comprehensive rule for every situation.
Questions about the motive behind the repeated boundary-stone prohibitions in 22:28 and 23:10 also remain open. The sayings emphasize protection of the vulnerable, yet they do not indicate whether the primary concern is social stability, divine justice, or both.
Movement by movement
The call to receive the thirty sayings22:17-21
The appeal singles out thirty sayings written with counsel and knowledge. It begins by urging the listener to incline the ear and apply the heart to knowledge, because keeping these words in the belly makes them pleasant and establishes them upon the lips. The purpose follows at once in a single clause: that trust may be in the LORD. The writer declares this made known today, even to the one now hearing. The direct address personalizes the instruction, moving from general words of the wise to a concrete act of writing directed at this particular hearer. The sayings therefore serve as the means to that trust rather than an end in themselves. Their further result is to make the listener know the truth of the words of truth so that he can return words of truth to those who sent him. The movement thus frames the entire collection that follows as preparation both for settled confidence in the LORD and for truthful speech when an answer is required.
Cautions against harming the weak and binding oneself rashly22:22-29
The opening prohibition here targets those who would plunder the poor simply because he is poor and crush the afflicted in the gate. The LORD himself will contend their cause and strip the life from anyone who strips them. The next warning turns to personal association: do not walk with a master of anger or draw near a man of rage, lest his path become a snare for your own soul. A further pair of lines forbids joining those who strike hands in pledge for loans, since failure to repay could leave even the bed taken from under the guarantor. The command not to move an ancient boundary set by the fathers protects the inheritance lines that earlier generations fixed in the land. The movement closes with the observation of a man quick in his work, who will stand before kings rather than remain among the obscure. These lines move from public justice at the gate to private restraint in company and contract, then to the fixed markers of land and the visible reward of diligence.
Conduct when eating with rulers or the stingy23:1-8
When sitting to eat with a ruler, the saying directs attention first to what lies on the table itself. Careful consideration of that spread leads directly to the command to set a knife to one’s throat if one claims mastery over the soul. The delicacies must not be desired, because they count as food of lies. The same warning reappears with the host who possesses a bad eye. His invitation to eat and drink comes while his heart stays distant, so the morsel already swallowed turns to something that must be vomited and the words spoken at the table lose their value. Between these two scenes the instruction pauses over the pursuit of riches. Toil aimed at wealth is to be abandoned, since what the eyes fasten upon can vanish as quickly as an eagle lifting into the sky. The two table scenes therefore share a single demand for restraint. In the ruler’s house the danger lies in the deceptive quality of the food; in the grudging house the danger lies in the mismatch between spoken welcome and inward calculation. Both situations call for the same refusal to let appetite override what the eyes have already seen.
Speech before fools and the use of discipline on the young23:9-14
The command not to speak in the ears of a fool stands first because such a listener will despise the understanding of your speech. That refusal to engage leaves the words of knowledge without a hearing and protects the speaker from contempt. The next lines shift to land that must not be taken from orphans, since their redeemer is strong and will contend their strife. The same concern for what belongs to the vulnerable appears earlier with the poor at the gate, yet here the warning targets fields rather than court testimony. Discipline enters at once after these cautions. The heart must be brought to discipline and the ear to the words of knowledge, then the father is told not to withhold the staff from a youth. The reason given is direct: striking with the staff will not kill the child but will rescue his soul from Sheol. The movement therefore places silence toward the fool beside active correction of the young, both actions guarding what can be lost when understanding is absent or rejected.
A father's joy in a wise son and warning against drunkenness23:15-21
The father’s own heart rejoices when the son’s heart proves wise, and his kidneys exult once the son’s lips speak uprightness. That inward gladness stands directly beside the command not to let the heart envy sinners but to fear the LORD all the day, because an end will come and hope will not be cut off. The same voice then urges the son to hear and be wise, to bless the way of his own heart, and immediately forbids standing among those who imbibe wine or grow vile with flesh. The reason follows without pause: the imbiber and the vile one will be dispossessed, and drowsiness will clothe them with rags. The movement therefore ties the father’s rejoicing to concrete restraint; the son’s upright speech cannot coexist with lingering over wine, since both the jealousy of sinners and the habit of excess lead to the same loss of inheritance and dignity.
Honoring parents, buying truth, and fleeing the prostitute and wine23:22-31
The address turns first to the one who begot the listener: hear your father who begot you, and do not despise your mother when she is old. That command stands immediately beside the order to buy truth and do not sell it, together with wisdom, discipline, and understanding. The cost of truth is set next to the rejoicing of the father of the righteous and the one who begets a wise son, whose parents both rejoice and exult when uprightness comes from the child's lips. The same speaker then claims the heart and the eyes that watch his ways, because a prostitute is a deep pit and a foreign woman a narrow well. She lies in wait like a robber and increases the treacherous among men. The movement ends by naming the woe, pain, strife, complaint, needless wounds, and dullness of eyes that belong to those who linger long over wine and go to try mixed wine, then forbids looking at wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup and goes down smoothly. Parental instruction, the purchase of truth, and the refusal of both the pit and the smooth descent therefore stand together as one sustained demand.
Notes accompany the Anselm Project Bible, an AI translation from the original languages. Tap any verse in the reader for the committee's word-level decisions.
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