1When you take your seat at the feast with a ruler, give thought with care to what is before you; 2And put a knife to your throat, if you have a strong desire for food. 3Have no desire for his delicate food, for it is the bread of deceit. 4Take no care to get wealth; let there be an end to your desire for money. 5Are your eyes lifted up to it? it is gone: for wealth takes to itself wings, like an eagle in flight up to heaven. 6Do not take the food of him who has an evil eye, or have any desire for his delicate meat: 7For as the thoughts of his heart are, so is he: Take food and drink, he says to you; but his heart is not with you. 8The food which you have taken will come up again, and your pleasing words will be wasted. 9Say nothing in the hearing of a foolish man, for he will put no value on the wisdom of your words. 10Do not let the landmark of the widow be moved, and do not go into the fields of those who have no father; 11For their saviour is strong, and he will take up their cause against you. 12Give your heart to teaching, and your ears to the words of knowledge. 13Do not keep back training from the child: for even if you give him blows with the rod, it will not be death to him. 14Give him blows with the rod, and keep his soul safe from the underworld. 15My son, if your heart becomes wise, I, even I, will be glad in heart; 16And my thoughts in me will be full of joy when your lips say right things. 17Have no envy of sinners in your heart, but keep in the fear of the Lord all through the day; 18For without doubt there is a future, and your hope will not be cut off. 19Give ear, my son, and be wise, guiding your heart in the right way. 20Do not be among those who give themselves to wine-drinking, or among those who make themselves full with meat: 21For those who take delight in drink and feasting will come to be in need; and through love of sleep a man will be poorly clothed. 22Give ear to your father whose child you are, and do not keep honour from your mother when she is old. 23Get for yourself that which is true, and do not let it go for money; get wisdom and teaching and good sense. 24The father of the upright man will be glad, and he who has a wise child will have joy because of him. 25Let your father and your mother be glad, let her who gave you birth have joy. 26My son, give me your heart, and let your eyes take delight in my ways. 27For a loose woman is a deep hollow, and a strange woman is a narrow water-hole. 28Yes, she is waiting secretly like a beast for its food, and deceit by her is increased among men. 29Who says, Oh! who says, Ah! who has violent arguments, who has grief, who has wounds without cause, whose eyes are dark? 30Those who are seated late over the wine: those who go looking for mixed wine. 31Keep your eyes from looking on the wine when it is red, when its colour is bright in the cup, when it goes smoothly down: 32In the end, its bite is like that of a snake, its wound like the wound of a poison-snake. 33Your eyes will see strange things, and you will say twisted things. 34Yes, you will be like him who takes his rest on the sea, or on the top of a sail-support. 35They have overcome me, you will say, and I have no pain; they gave me blows without my feeling them: when will I be awake from my wine? I will go after it again.
Matthew Henry's Commentary
1-3 God's restraints of the appetite only say, Do thyself no harm. #4,5|. Be not of those that will be rich. The things of this world are not happiness and a portion for a soul; those that hold them ever so fast, cannot hold them always, cannot hold them long. #6-8|. Do not make thyself burdensome to any, especially those not sincere. When we are called by God to his feast, and to let our souls delight themselves, #Isa 25:6; 55:2|, we may safely partake of the Bread of life. #9|. It is our duty to take all fit occasions to speak of Divine things; but if what a wise man says will not be heard, let him hold his peace. #10,11|. The fatherless are taken under God's special protection. He is their Redeemer, who will take their part; and he is mighty, almighty. 12-16 Here is a parent instructing his child to give his mind to the Scriptures. Here is a parent correcting his child: accompanied with prayer, and blessed of God, it may prove a means of preventing his destruction. Here is a parent encouraging his child, telling him what would be for his good. And what a comfort it would be, if herein he answered his expectation! #17,18|. The believer's expectation shall not be disappointed; the end of his trials, and of the sinner's prosperity, is at hand. 19-28 The gracious Saviour who purchased pardon and peace for his people, with all the affection of a tender parent, counsels us to hear and be wise, and is ready to guide our hearts in his way. Here we have an earnest call to young people, to attend to the advice of their godly parents. If the heart be guided, the steps will be guided. Buy the truth, and sell it not; be willing to part with any thing for it. Do not part with it for pleasures, honours, riches, or any thing in this world. The heart is what the great God requires. We must not think to divide the heart between God and the world; he will have all or none. Look to the rule of God's word, the conduct of his providence, and the good examples of his people. Particular cautions are given against sins most destructive to wisdom and grace in the soul. It is really a shame to make a god of the belly. Drunkenness stupifies men, and then all goes to ruin. Licentiousness takes away the heart that should be given to God. Take heed of any approaches toward this sin, it is very hard to retreat from it. It bewitches men to their ruin. 29-35 Solomon warns against drunkenness. Those that would be kept from sin, must keep from all the beginnings of it, and fear coming within reach of its allurements. Foresee the punishment, what it will at last end in, if repentance prevent not. It makes men quarrel. Drunkards wilfully make woe and sorrow for themselves. It makes men impure and insolent. The tongue grows unruly; the heart utters things contrary to reason, religion, and common civility. It stupifies and besots men. They are in danger of death, of damnation; as much exposed as if they slept upon the top of a mast, yet feel secure. They fear no peril when the terrors of the Lord are before them; they feel no pain when the judgments of God are actually upon them. So lost is a drunkard to virtue and honour, so wretchedly is his conscience seared, that he is not ashamed to say, I will seek it again. With good reason we were bid to stop before the beginning. Who that has common sense would contract a habit, or sell himself to a sin, which tends to such guilt and misery, and exposes a man every day to the danger of dying insensible, and awaking in hell? Wisdom seems in these chapters to take up the discourse as at the beginning of the book. They must be considered as the words of Christ to the sinner.