Proverbs 23 is the 23rd chapter of the Book of Proverbs in the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
'' Old Testament of the Christian

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts ...

.Holman Illustrated Bible Handbook. Holman Bible Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee. 2012. The book is a compilation of several wisdom literature collections, with the heading in 1:1 may be intended to regard Solomon as the traditional author of the whole book, but the dates of the individual collections are difficult to determine, and the book probably obtained its final shape in the post-exilic period. This chapter specifically records "the sayings of wise".

Text

Hebrew

The following table shows the

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

text of Proverbs 23 with vowels alongside an English translation based upon the

JPS 1917 The Jewish Publication Society of America Version (JPS) of the Tanakh (the Hebrew Bible) was the first Bible translation published by the Jewish Publication Society of America and the first translation of the Tanakh into English by a committee o ...

translation (now in the

public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work to which no exclusive intellectual property rights apply. Those rights may have expired, been forfeited, expressly waived, or may be inapplicable. Because those rights have expired, ...

Textual witnesses

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter in

are of the

Masoretic Text The Masoretic Text (MT or 𝕸; he, נֻסָּח הַמָּסוֹרָה, Nūssāḥ Hammāsōrā, lit. 'Text of the Tradition') is the authoritative Hebrew and Aramaic text of the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh) in Rabbinic Judaism. ...

, which includes the Aleppo Codex (10th century), and

Codex Leningradensis The Leningrad Codex ( la, Codex Leningradensis [Leningrad Book]; he, כתב יד לנינגרד) is the oldest complete manuscript of the Hebrew Bible in Hebrew, using the Masoretic Text and Tiberian vocalization. According to its colopho ...

(1008). There is also a translation into

Koine Greek Koine Greek (; Koine el, ἡ κοινὴ διάλεκτος, hē koinè diálektos, the common dialect; ), also known as Hellenistic Greek, common Attic, the Alexandrian dialect, Biblical Greek or New Testament Greek, was the common supra-reg ...

known as the

Septuagint The Greek Old Testament, or Septuagint (, ; from the la, septuaginta, lit=seventy; often abbreviated ''70''; in Roman numerals, LXX), is the earliest extant Greek translation of books from the Hebrew Bible. It includes several books beyond ...

, made in the last few centuries BC. Extant ancient manuscripts of the

version include

Codex Vaticanus The Codex Vaticanus ( The Vatican, Bibl. Vat., Vat. gr. 1209), designated by siglum B or 03 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), δ 1 ( von Soden), is a fourth-century Christian manuscript of a Greek Bible, containing the majority of the Greek Old ...

(B;

\mathfrak

^B; 4th century),

Codex Sinaiticus The Codex Sinaiticus ( Shelfmark: London, British Library, Add MS 43725), designated by siglum [Aleph] or 01 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering of New Testament manuscripts), δ 2 (in the von Soden numbering of New Testament manuscript ...

(S; BHK:

\mathfrak

^S; 4th century), and

Codex Alexandrinus The Codex Alexandrinus (London, British Library, Royal MS 1. D. V-VIII), designated by the siglum A or 02 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering of New Testament manuscripts), δ 4 (in the von Soden numbering of New Testament manuscripts), is a manu ...

(A;

\mathfrak

^A; 5th century).

Analysis

This chapter is a part of the third collection in the book of Proverbs (comprising

Proverbs 22 Proverbs 22 is the 22nd chapter of the Book of Proverbs in the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament of the Christian Bible.Holman Illustrated Bible Handbook. Holman Bible Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee. 2012. The book is a compilation of several wi ...

:17– 24:22), which consists of seven instructions of various lengths: * 1st instruction (22:17–23:11) * 2nd instruction (23:12–18) * 3rd instruction (23:19–21) * 4th instruction (23:22–25) * 5th instruction (23:26–24:12) * 6th instruction (24:13–20) and * 7th instruction (24:21–22) The sayings are predominantly in the form of synonymous parallelism, preceded by a general superscription of the entire collection in 22:17a: "The words of the wise" (or "Sayings of the Wise"). This collection consists of an introduction that the youths should be instructed and exhorted to listen to and obey their "teachers" (parents), followed by a series of admonitions and prohibitions coupled with a variety of clauses, primarily presented in short parental instructions (cf. 23:15, 22; 24:13, 21). The 'thirty sayings' (Proverbs 22:20) in this collection are thought to be modelled on the 'thirty chapters' in

Egyptian Egyptian describes something of, from, or related to Egypt. Egyptian or Egyptians may refer to: Nations and ethnic groups * Egyptians, a national group in North Africa ** Egyptian culture, a complex and stable culture with thousands of years of ...

Instruction of ''Amen-em-ope'' the son of Kanakht (most likely during the

Ramesside Period The Twentieth Dynasty of Egypt (notated Dynasty XX, alternatively 20th Dynasty or Dynasty 20) is the third and last dynasty of the Ancient Egyptian New Kingdom period, lasting from 1189 BC to 1077 BC. The 19th and 20th Dynasties furthermore togeth ...

ca. 1300–1075 BCE), although the parallels extend only in Proverbs 22:17–23:11 and the extent of the dependence is debatable.

True riches (23:1–21)

This section forms the body of a collection titled "Sayings of the Wise" (22:17), containing 5 of 7 sets of instruction. Verses 1–3 give some further advice about table manners during a royal feast, that is, to 'put a knife to your throat' (a forceful expression for 'curb your appetite') in front of 'deceptive food' (literally, "bread of lies") because there could be an ulterior motive behind the abundant hospitality that can cause one's undoing. Verses 4-5 warn against accruing wealth as the main goal in life because riches are like a mirage: no sooner here than gone. Verses 10–11 warn against land appropriation of the defenseless people through the removal of the boundary stones (cf. 15:25; 22:28), because although there is no human 'kinsman' to defend their rights (cf. Leviticus 25:25;

Ruth 4 Ruth 4 is the fourth (and the last) chapter of the Book of Ruth in the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament of the Christian Bible, part of the Ketuvim ("Writings"). This chapter contains the story of how Boaz goes up to the city gate, calls his k ...

), God himself will become their redeemer (cf. 22:23). Verses 13–14 affirm the value of disciplining of children (cf. 13:24; 20:30; 22:15), as this will save them from following the paths leading to death and direct them along the path of life (cf. 13:14; 15:24). Verses 19–21 advise to avoid the company of drunkards and gluttons as excessive eating and drinking would lead to indiscipline, inertia and ultimately to poverty.

Verse 6

:''Do not eat the bread of a man who is stingy; do not desire his delicacies,'' *"A man who is stingy": or "a miser" (

NKJV The New King James Version (NKJV) is an English translation of the Bible. The complete NKJV Bible was published in 1982 by Thomas Nelson, now HarperCollins. The NKJV is described by Thomas Nelson as being "scrupulously faithful to the origin ...

), literally, "one who has an evil eye".

Verse 7

:''Selfish people are always worrying'' :''about how much the food costs.'' They tell you, “Eat and drink,” :''but they don’t really mean it.''

Listen to your father and mother (23:22–35)

A reminder to take heed of the advice from one's father and mother precedes the warning against the seductress (verses 26–28), who is likened to a deep and narrow 'pit' (cf. Jeremiah 38:6–13; probably representing the gateway to

Sheol Sheol ( ; he, ''Šəʾōl'', Tiberian: ''Šŏʾōl'') in the Hebrew Bible is a place of still darkness which lies after death. Although not well defined in the Tanakh, Sheol in this view was a subterranean underworld where the souls of the ...

, cf. 2:18–19; 5:5, 27; 22:14), or to a huntress who traps (cf. 7:22–23) and to a robber who lies in wait for her victims (cf. 7:12). Verses 29–35 describe the seduction of a drunkard by the power of wine which 'eye' ('sparkles' in verse 31 is literally 'gives its eye') and 'smoothness' (cf. Song of Songs 7:9) are comparable to the words of the seductress in chapters 1– 9 (cf. 6:24–25). In both cases the promise of pleasure and enjoyment ('at the last', verse 32; 'in the end', 5:4) will lead to degenerative effects—both physical and mental—on its victims (verses 29, 33–35).

Verse 31

:''Do not look on the wine when it is red,'' ::''When it sparkles in the cup,'' ::''When it swirls around smoothly;'' *"Swirls around smoothly" (

KJV The King James Version (KJV), also the King James Bible (KJB) and the Authorized Version, is an English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England, which was commissioned in 1604 and published in 1611, by sponsorship of K ...

: "moveth itself aright"): or "goes around smoothly"

Verse 32

:''For in the end it bites like a poisonous snake;'' :''it stings like a viper.'' NLT

References

Sources

* * * * * * *

External links

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

translations: *
Mishlei - Proverbs - Chapter 23 (Judaica Press)
translation ith_Rashi's_commentary.html"_;"title="Rashi.html"_;"title="ith_Rashi">ith_Rashi's_commentary">Rashi.html"_;"title="ith_Rashi">ith_Rashi's_commentaryat_Chabad.org *__Christian_translations: *
''Online_Bible''_at_GospelHall.org
(ESV,_KJV,_Darby,_American_Standard_Version,_Bible_in_Basic_English)
Book_of_Proverbs_Chapter_23_King_James_Version
*__Various_versions {{DEFAULTSORT:Proverbs_23 Book_of_Proverbs_chapters.html" ;"title="Proverbs_23.html" ;"title="Rashi">ith_Rashi's_commentary.html" ;"title="Rashi.html" ;"title="ith Rashi">ith Rashi's commentary">Rashi.html" ;"title="ith Rashi">ith Rashi's commentaryat Chabad.org * Christian translations: *
''Online Bible'' at GospelHall.org
(ESV, KJV, Darby, American Standard Version, Bible in Basic English)
Book of Proverbs Chapter 23 King James Version
* Various versions {{DEFAULTSORT:Proverbs 23 Book of Proverbs chapters">23