Proverbs 23:19

Christian Standard Bible ®

Listen, my son, and be wise;keep your mind on the right course.

Parallel Translations

Hebrew Names Version
Listen, my son, and be wise, And keep your heart on the right path!

King James Version
Hear thou, my son, and be wise, and guide thine heart in the way.

English Standard Version
Hear, my son, and be wise, and direct your heart in the way.

New American Standard Bible
Listen, my son, and be wise, And direct your heart in the way.

New Century Version
Listen, my child, and be wise. Keep your mind on what is right.

Amplified Bible
Listen, my son, and be wise, And direct your heart in the way [of the LORD].

World English Bible
Listen, my son, and be wise, And keep your heart on the right path!

Geneva Bible (1587)
O thou my sonne, heare, and bee wise, and guide thine heart in the way.

Legacy Standard Bible
You, my son, listen and be wise,And direct your heart in the way.

Berean Standard Bible
Listen, my son, and be wise, and guide your heart on the right course.

Contemporary English Version

-15-

Listen to me, my children! Be wise and have enough sense to follow the right path.

Complete Jewish Bible
You, my son: listen, be wise, and set your mind on the right way.

Darby Translation
Thou, my son, hear and be wise, and direct thy heart in the way.

Easy-to-Read Version
So listen, my son, and be wise. Always be careful to follow the right path.

George Lamsa Translation
Hear, my son, and be wise, and fasten my counsel in your heart.

Good News Translation

-15-

Listen, my child, be wise and give serious thought to the way you live.

Lexham English Bible
You, my child, hear and be wise, and direct your heart on the road.

Literal Translation
My son, hear, you, and be wise, and advance your heart in the way.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
My sonne, ue eare & be wyse, so shal thine hert prospere in the waye.

American Standard Version
Hear thou, my son, and be wise, And guide thy heart in the way.

Bible in Basic English
Give ear, my son, and be wise, guiding your heart in the right way.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
Hear thou, my son, and be wise, and guide thy heart in the way.

King James Version (1611)
Heare thou, my sonne, and be wise, and guide thine heart in the way.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
My sonne geue eare and be wyse, and set straight thyne heart in the way [of the Lorde.]

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
023

English Revised Version
Hear thou, my son, and be wise, and guide thine heart in the way.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Mi sone, here thou, and be thou wijs, and dresse thi soule in the weie.

Update Bible Version
Hear, my son, and be wise, And guide your heart in the way.

Webster's Bible Translation
Hear thou, my son, and be wise, and guide thy heart in the way.

New English Translation
Listen, my child, and be wise, and guide your heart on the right way.

New King James Version
Hear, my son, and be wise; And guide your heart in the way.

New Living Translation
My child, listen and be wise: Keep your heart on the right course.

New Life Bible
Listen, my son, and be wise. Lead your heart in the way.

New Revised Standard
Hear, my child, and be wise, and direct your mind in the way.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Hear, thou, my son, and be wise, and lead forward, in duty, thy heart.

Douay-Rheims Bible
Hear thou, my son, and be wise: and guide thy mind in the way.

Revised Standard Version
Hear, my son, and be wise, and direct your mind in the way.

Young's Literal Translation
Hear thou, my son, and be wise, And make happy in the way thy heart,

THE MESSAGE
15 Oh listen, dear child—become wise; point your life in the right direction. Don't drink too much wine and get drunk; don't eat too much food and get fat. Drunks and gluttons will end up on skid row, in a stupor and dressed in rags.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
Listen, my son, and be wise, And direct your heart in the way.

Contextual Overview

¹⁹Listen, my son, and be wise;keep your mind on the right course.²⁰Don’t associate with those who drink too much wineor with those who gorge themselves on meat. ²¹For the drunkard and the glutton will become poor,and grogginess will clothe them in rags. ²²Listen to your father who gave you life,and don’t despise your mother when she is old. ²³Buy—and do not sell—truth,wisdom, instruction, and understanding. ²⁴The father of a righteous son will rejoice greatly,and one who fathers a wise son will delight in him. ²⁵Let your father and mother have joy,and let her who gave birth to you rejoice. ²⁶My son, give me your heart,and let your eyes observe my ways. ²⁷For a prostitute is a deep pit,and a wayward woman is a narrow well; ²⁸indeed, she sets an ambush like a robberand increases the number of unfaithful people.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

and guide: Proverbs 23:12, Proverbs 23:26, Proverbs 4:10-23

in the way: That is "in the right way.

Reciprocal: Deuteronomy 21:20 - he is a glutton Proverbs 4:23 - Keep Proverbs 28:7 - but Isaiah 5:22 - mighty Luke 15:13 - wasted

Cross-References

Genesis 3:19
You will eat bread by the sweat of your browuntil you return to the ground,since you were taken from it.For you are dust,and you will return to dust.”

Genesis 23:9
to give me the cave of Machpelah that belongs to him; it is at the end of his field. Let him give it to me in your presence, for the full price, as burial property.”

Genesis 23:10
Ephron was sitting among the Hethites. So in the hearing of all the Hethites who came to the gate of his city, Ephron the Hethite answered Abraham:

Genesis 47:30
When I rest with my fathers, carry me away from Egypt and bury me in their burial place.”

Genesis 50:13
They carried him to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave at Machpelah in the field near Mamre, which Abraham had purchased as burial property from Ephron the Hethite.

Genesis 50:25
So Joseph made the sons of Israel take an oath: “When God comes to your aid, you are to carry my bones up from here.”

Job 30:23
Yes, I know that you will lead me to death—the place appointed for all who live.

Ecclesiastes 6:3
A man may father a hundred children and live many years. No matter how long he lives, if he is not satisfied by good things and does not even have a proper burial, I say that a stillborn child is better off than he.

Ecclesiastes 12:5
Also, they are afraid of heights and dangers on the road;the almond tree blossoms,the grasshopper loses its spring,and the caper berry has no effect;for the mere mortal is headed to his eternal home,and mourners will walk around in the street;

Ecclesiastes 12:7
and the dust returns to the earth as it once was,and the spirit returns to God who gave it.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Hear thou, my son, and be wise,.... Hear the instruction of a father, of the word of Wisdom, of the ministers of the Gospel, which is the way to be wise unto salvation; faith comes by hearing; spiritual wisdom, and an increase of it; the Spirit of God, and his gifts and graces;

and guide thine heart in the way; in the way of the Lord, in the way of wisdom and understanding, in the way of truth and faith, in the way of religious worship, in the way of the commandments and ordinances of the Lord; in all which the heart should be guided and directed, or otherwise it will be of no avail.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Another continuous exhortation rather than a collection of maxims.

Proverbs 23:16

The teacher rejoices when the disciple’s heart Proverbs 23:15 receives wisdom, and yet more when his lips can utter it.

Reins - See Job 19:27 note.

Proverbs 23:17

Envy sinners - Compare in Psalms 37:1; Psalms 73:3; the feeling which looks half-longingly at the prosperity of evil doers. Some connect the verb “envy” with the second clause, “envy not sinners, but envy, emulate, the fear of the Lord.”

Proverbs 23:18

Or, For if there is an end (hereafter), thine expectations shall not be cut off. There is an implied confidence in immortality.

Proverbs 23:20

Riotous eaters of flesh - The word is the same as “glutton” in Proverbs 23:21 and Deuteronomy 21:20.

Proverbs 23:21

The three forms of evil that destroy reputation and tempt to waste are brought together.

Drowsiness - Specially the drunken sleep, heavy and confused.

Proverbs 23:26

Observe - Another reading gives, “let thine eyes delight in my ways.”

Proverbs 23:28

As for a prey - Better as in the margin.

The transgressors - Better, the treacherous,” those that attack men treacherously.

Proverbs 23:29

Woe ... sorrow - The words in the original are interjections, probably expressing distress. The sharp touch of the satirist reproduces the actual inarticulate utterances of drunkenness.

Proverbs 23:30

Mixed wine - Wine flavored with aromatic spices, that increase its stimulating properties Isaiah 5:22. There is a touch of sarcasm in “go to seek.” The word, elsewhere used of diligent search after knowledge Proverbs 25:2; Job 11:7; Psalms 139:1, is used here of the investigations of connoisseurs in wine meeting to test its qualities.

Proverbs 23:31

His color - literally, “its eye,” the clear brightness, or the beaded bubbles on which the wine drinker looks with complacency.

It moveth itself aright - The Hebrew word describes the pellucid stream flowing pleasantly from the wineskin or jug into the goblet or the throat (compare Song of Solomon 7:9), rather than a sparkling wine.

Proverbs 23:32

Adder - Said to be the Cerastes, or horned snake.

Proverbs 23:34

The passage is interesting, as showing the increased familiarity of Israelites with the experiences of sea life (compare Psalms 104:25-26; Psalms 107:23-30).

In the midst of the sea - i. e., When the ship is in the trough of the sea and the man is on the deck. The second clause varies the form of danger, the man is in the “cradle” at the top of the mast, and sleeps there, regardless of the danger.

Proverbs 23:35

The picture ends with the words of the drunkard on waking from his sleep. Unconscious of the excesses of the night, his first thought is to return to his old habit.

When shall I awake ... - Better, when I shall awake I will seek it yet again.