Proverbs 23:19

Wycliffe Bible

Mi sone, here thou, and be thou wijs, and dresse thi soule in the weie.

Parallel Translations

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

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.

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

¹⁹ Mi sone, here thou, and be thou wijs, and dresse thi soule in the weie. ²⁰ Nyle thou be in the feestis of drinkeris, nether in the ofte etyngis of hem, that bryngen togidere fleischis to ete. ²¹ For men yyuynge tent to drinkis, and yyuyng mussels togidere, schulen be waastid, and napping schal be clothid with clothis. ²² Here thi fadir, that gendride thee; and dispise not thi modir, whanne sche is eld. ²³ Bie thou treuthe, and nyle thou sille wisdom, and doctryn, and vndurstonding. ²⁴ The fadir of a iust man ioieth ful out with ioie; he that gendride a wijs man, schal be glad in hym. ²⁵ Thi fadir and thi modir haue ioye, and he that gendride thee, make ful out ioye. ²⁶ My sone, yyue thin herte to me, and thin iyen kepe my weyes. ²⁷ For an hoore is a deep diche, and an alien womman is a streit pit. ²⁸ Sche settith aspie in the weie, as a theef; and sche schal sle hem, whiche sche schal se vnwar.

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
in swoot of thi cheer thou schalt ete thi breed, til thou turne ayen in to the erthe of which thou art takun; for thou art dust, and thou schalt turne ayen in to dust.

Genesis 23:9
that he yyue to me the double caue, whiche he hath in the vttirmoste part of his feeld; for sufficiaunt money yyue he it to me bifore you into possessioun of sepulcre.

Genesis 23:10
Forsothe Efron dwellide in the myddis of the sones of Heth. And Efron answerde to Abraham, while alle men herden that entriden bi the yate of that citee,

Genesis 47:30
but `Y schal slepe with my fadris, and take thou awey me fro this lond, and birie in the sepulcre of my grettere. To whom Joseph answeride, Y schal do that that thou comaundist.

Genesis 50:13
and thei baren hym in to the lond of Canaan, and thei birieden hym in the double denne, which denne with the feeld Abraham hadde bouyt of Effron Ethei, ayens the face of Mambre, into possessioun of sepulcre.

Genesis 50:25
And whanne he hadde chargid hem, and hadde seid, God schal visite you, bere ye out with you my boonus fro this place,

Job 30:23
Y woot, that thow schalt bitake me to deeth, where an hows is ordeyned to ech lyuynge man.

Ecclesiastes 6:3
If a man gendrith an hundrid fre sones, and lyueth many yeris, and hath many daies of age, and his soule vsith not the goodis of his catel, and wantith biriyng; Y pronounce of this man, that a deed borun child is betere than he.

Ecclesiastes 12:5
And hiy thingis schulen drede, and schulen be aferd in the weie; an alemaunde tre schal floure, a locuste schal be maad fat, and capparis schal be distried; for a man schal go in to the hous of his euerlastyngnesse, and weileris schulen go aboute in the street.

Ecclesiastes 12:7
and dust turne ayen in to his erthe, wherof it was, and the spirit turne ayen to God, that yaf 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.