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Proverbs · Revised Version with Apocrypha

Proverbs 23 Revised Version with Apocrypha

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About RV
  • Protestant
  • OT: Masoretic Hebrew
  • NT: Critical text
  • Protestant, with the Apocrypha
  • Formal (word for word)
  • 1895
  • Public domain

Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings

1 When thou sittest to eat with a ruler, consider diligently him that is before thee; 2 And put a knife to thy throat, if thou be a man given to appetite. 3 Be not desirous of his dainties; seeing they are deceitful meat. 4 Weary not thyself to be rich; cease from thine own wisdom. 5 Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not? for [riches ]certainly make themselves wings, like an eagle that flieth toward heaven. 6 Eat thou not the bread of him that hath an evil eye, neither desire thou his dainties: 7 For as he reckoneth within himself, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee. 8 The morsel which thou hast eaten shalt thou vomit up, and lose thy sweet words. 9 Speak not in the hearing of a fool; for he will despise the wisdom of thy words. 10 Remove not the ancient landmark; and enter not into the fields of the fatherless: 11 For their redeemer is strong; he shall plead their cause against thee. 12 Apply thine heart unto instruction, and thine ears to the words of knowledge. 13 Withhold not correction from the child: [for ]if thou beat him with the rod, he shall not die. 14 Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from Sheol. 15 My son, if thine heart be wise, my heart shall be glad, 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 a reward; and thy hope 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 gluttonous 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; [yea], 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 Let thy father and thy mother be glad, and let her that bare thee rejoice. 26 My son, give me thine heart, and let thine eyes delight in my ways. 27 For a whore is a deep ditch; and a strange woman is a narrow pit. 28 Yea, she lieth in wait as a robber, and increaseth the treacherous among men. 29 Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who hath complaining? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes? 30 They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek out mixed wine. 31 Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth its colour in the cup, when it goeth down smoothly. 32 At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder. 33 Thine eyes shall behold strange things, and thine heart shall utter froward 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 hurt; they have beaten me, and I felt it not: when shall I awake? I will seek it yet again.

Cross references (34)

Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.

  1. 1 Genesis 43:32–34; Jude 12
  2. 2 Philippians 3:19; Matthew 18:8–9; 1 Corinthians 9:27
  3. 3 Proverbs 23:6; Psalm 141:4; Luke 21:34; Ephesians 4:22; Daniel 1:8
  4. 4 Hebrews 13:5; Proverbs 28:20; 1 Timothy 6:8–10; Matthew 6:19; Proverbs 3:5
  5. 5 Proverbs 27:24; 1 John 2:16; Matthew 6:19; James 5:1–2; 1 Timothy 6:17
  6. 6 Psalm 141:4; Proverbs 23:3; Daniel 1:8–10; Deuteronomy 15:9; Matthew 20:15
  7. 7 Psalm 12:2; Psalm 55:21; Judges 16:15; Matthew 9:3–4; Luke 11:37–54
  8. 9 Proverbs 9:7–8; Matthew 7:6; Proverbs 26:4–5; Proverbs 1:7; Acts 13:45–46
  9. 10 Zechariah 7:10; Proverbs 22:28; Jeremiah 22:3; Deuteronomy 27:17; James 1:27
  10. 11 Proverbs 22:23; Job 19:25; Exodus 22:22–24; Deuteronomy 27:19; Psalm 12:5
  11. 12 Proverbs 5:1–2; Proverbs 2:2–6; Proverbs 23:19; James 1:21–25; Ezekiel 33:31
  12. 13 Proverbs 13:24; Proverbs 29:15; Proverbs 19:18; Proverbs 29:17
  13. 14 1 Corinthians 5:5; Proverbs 22:15; 1 Corinthians 11:32
  14. 15 Proverbs 23:24–25; 2 John 4; Zephaniah 3:17; 3 John 3–4; Proverbs 29:3
  15. 16 Proverbs 8:6; Ephesians 5:4; James 3:2; Ephesians 4:29; Colossians 4:4
  16. 17 Proverbs 28:14; 2 Corinthians 7:1; Proverbs 15:16; 1 Peter 1:17; Ecclesiastes 5:7
  17. 18 Hebrews 10:35; Jeremiah 29:11; Psalm 9:18; Proverbs 24:14; Philippians 1:20
  18. 19 Proverbs 23:26; Proverbs 23:12; Proverbs 4:10–23; Proverbs 6:6; Proverbs 9:6
  19. 20 Luke 21:34; Ephesians 5:18; Isaiah 5:22; Romans 13:13; Isaiah 5:11
  20. 21 Proverbs 21:17; Philippians 3:19; Proverbs 19:15; Deuteronomy 21:20; Galatians 5:21
  21. 22 Proverbs 30:17; Proverbs 1:8; John 19:26–27; Proverbs 6:20; Ephesians 6:1–2
  22. 23 Proverbs 18:15; Matthew 13:44; Psalm 119:72; Proverbs 16:16; Isaiah 55:1
  23. 24 Proverbs 10:1; Proverbs 15:20; Proverbs 23:15–16; Proverbs 29:3; Philemon 20
  24. 25 Proverbs 17:25; Luke 1:58; Luke 11:27–28; 1 Chronicles 4:9–10; Luke 1:40–47
  25. 26 Psalm 119:2; Psalm 119:9–11; Deuteronomy 6:5; Matthew 10:37–38; Proverbs 4:25–27
  26. 27 Proverbs 22:14
  27. 28 Ecclesiastes 7:26; Proverbs 7:12; 1 Corinthians 10:8; Hosea 4:11; Proverbs 22:14
  28. 29 Ephesians 5:18; 1 Samuel 25:36–37; Isaiah 5:11; Isaiah 5:22; 2 Samuel 13:28
  29. 30 Ephesians 5:18; Isaiah 5:11; Proverbs 20:1; Proverbs 9:2; Amos 6:6
  30. 31 1 John 2:16; Psalm 119:37; 2 Samuel 11:2; Proverbs 6:25; Mark 9:47
  31. 32 Isaiah 28:7–8; Isaiah 28:3; Luke 16:25–26; Exodus 7:12; Amos 5:19
  32. 33 Jude 12–13; Proverbs 31:5; Proverbs 2:12; Hosea 7:5; Genesis 19:32–38
  33. 34 1 Thessalonians 5:2–7; 1 Kings 16:9; Luke 21:34; Luke 17:27–29; Matthew 24:38
  34. 35 Jeremiah 5:3; Isaiah 56:12; 1 Corinthians 15:32–34; 2 Peter 2:22; Proverbs 26:11

Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences

What the Fathers said

Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).

How these were chosen

“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).

  1. Quotes verse 23:1 Augustine of Hippo, Tractates on the Gospel of John (Chapter X — 14-21)

    … effect it is written in a certain place, "If thou sittest down to sup at a ruler's table, make wise observation of what is set before thee; and put to thy hand, knowing that it will be thy duty to make similar provision in turn." You know what is meant by the ruler's table: you there find the body and …

    Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 7 (1888)

  2. Quotes verse 23:13 John Chrysostom, Homilies on the Gospel of Matthew (Homily LV)

    For he who spares his child, ruins it; but he who spares it not, preserves." To which effect also a certain wise man said, "If thou beat thy son with a rod, he shall not die, but thou shalt deliver his soul from death." And again, "He that refresheth his son, shall bind up his wounds." This takes place in …

    Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 10 (1888)

  3. Quotes verse 23:1 Augustine of Hippo, Tractates on the Gospel of John (Chapters XV–XV)

    … the meaning of what we read in the Proverbs of Solomon: "If thou sittest down to supper at the table of a ruler, consider wisely what is set before thee; and so put to thy hand, knowing that thou art bound to make similar preparations." For what is the table of the ruler, but that from which we take the …

    Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 7 (1888)