the Week of Proper 9 / Ordinary 14
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THE MESSAGE
Proverbs 23:19
Bible Study Resources
Concordances:
- Nave'sDictionaries:
- BridgewayEncyclopedias:
- InternationalParallel Translations
Listen, my son, and be wise;keep your mind on the right course.
Listen, my son, and be wise, And keep your heart on the right path!
Hear thou, my son, and be wise, and guide thine heart in the way.
Hear, my son, and be wise, and direct your heart in the way.
Listen, my son, and be wise, And direct your heart in the way.
Listen, my child, and be wise. Keep your mind on what is right.
Listen, my son, and be wise, And direct your heart in the way [of the LORD].
Listen, my son, and be wise, And keep your heart on the right path!
O thou my sonne, heare, and bee wise, and guide thine heart in the way.
You, my son, listen and be wise,And direct your heart in the way.
Listen, my son, and be wise, and guide your heart on the right course.
-15-
Listen to me, my children! Be wise and have enough sense to follow the right path.You, my son: listen, be wise, and set your mind on the right way.
Thou, my son, hear and be wise, and direct thy heart in the way.
So listen, my son, and be wise. Always be careful to follow the right path.
Hear, my son, and be wise, and fasten my counsel in your heart.
-15-
Listen, my child, be wise and give serious thought to the way you live.You, my child, hear and be wise, and direct your heart on the road.
My son, hear, you, and be wise, and advance your heart in the way.
My sonne, ue eare & be wyse, so shal thine hert prospere in the waye.
Hear thou, my son, and be wise, And guide thy heart in the way.
Give ear, my son, and be wise, guiding your heart in the right way.
Hear thou, my son, and be wise, and guide thy heart in the way.
Heare thou, my sonne, and be wise, and guide thine heart in the way.
My sonne geue eare and be wyse, and set straight thyne heart in the way [of the Lorde.]
023
Hear thou, my son, and be wise, and guide thine heart in the way.
Mi sone, here thou, and be thou wijs, and dresse thi soule in the weie.
Hear, my son, and be wise, And guide your heart in the way.
Hear thou, my son, and be wise, and guide thy heart in the way.
Listen, my child, and be wise, and guide your heart on the right way.
Hear, my son, and be wise; And guide your heart in the way.
My child, listen and be wise: Keep your heart on the right course.
Listen, my son, and be wise. Lead your heart in the way.
Hear, my child, and be wise, and direct your mind in the way.
Hear, thou, my son, and be wise, and lead forward, in duty, thy heart.
Hear thou, my son, and be wise: and guide thy mind in the way.
Hear, my son, and be wise, and direct your mind in the way.
Hear thou, my son, and be wise, And make happy in the way thy heart,
Listen, my son, and be wise, And direct your heart in the way.
Contextual Overview
17
Dear child, I want your full attention; please do what I show you. 27A whore is a bottomless pit; a loose woman can get you in deep trouble fast. She'll take you for all you've got; she's worse than a pack of thieves.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
Ephron was part of the local Hittite community. Then Ephron the Hittite spoke up, answering Abraham with all the Hittites who were part of the town council listening: "Oh no, my master! I couldn't do that. The field is yours—a gift. I'll give it and the cave to you. With my people as witnesses, I give it to you. Bury your deceased wife."
Then Joseph made the sons of Israel promise under oath, "When God makes his visitation, make sure you take my bones with you as you leave here."
Say a couple have scores of children and live a long, long life but never enjoy themselves—even though they end up with a big funeral! I'd say that a stillborn baby gets the better deal. It gets its start in a mist and ends up in the dark—unnamed. It sees nothing and knows nothing, but is better off by far than anyone living.
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.
