1When you sit down to dine with a ruler, consider carefully what is set before you, 2and put a knife to your throat if you possess a great appetite. 3Do not crave his delicacies, for that food is deceptive. 4Do not wear yourself out to get rich; be wise enough to restrain yourself. 5When you glance at wealth, it disappears, for it makes wings for itself and flies like an eagle to the sky. 6Do not eat the bread of a stingy man, and do not crave his delicacies; 7for he is keeping track, inwardly counting the cost. “Eat and drink,” he says to you, but his heart is not with you. 8You will vomit up what little you have eaten and waste your pleasant words. 9Do not speak to a fool, for he will despise the wisdom of your words. 10Do not move an ancient boundary stone or encroach on the fields of the fatherless, 11for their Redeemer is strong; He will take up their case against you. 12Apply your heart to instruction and your ears to words of knowledge. 13Do not withhold discipline from a child; although you strike him with a rod, he will not die. 14Strike him with a rod, and you will deliver his soul from Sheol. 15My son, if your heart is wise, my own heart will indeed rejoice. 16My inmost being will rejoice when your lips speak what is right. 17Do not let your heart envy sinners, but always continue in the fear of the LORD. 18For surely there is a future, and your hope will not be cut off. 19Listen, my son, and be wise, and guide your heart on the right course. 20Do not join those who drink too much wine or gorge themselves on meat. 21For the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty, and drowsiness will clothe them in rags. 22Listen to your father who gave you life, and do not despise your mother when she is old. 23Invest in truth and never sell it— in wisdom and instruction and understanding. 24The father of a righteous man will greatly rejoice, and he who fathers a wise son will delight in him. 25May your father and mother be glad, and may she who gave you birth rejoice! 26My son, give me your heart, and let your eyes delight in my ways. 27For a prostitute is a deep pit, and an adulteress is a narrow well. 28Like a robber she lies in wait and multiplies the faithless among men. 29Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has complaints? Who has needless wounds? Who has bloodshot eyes? 30Those who linger over wine, who go to taste mixed drinks. 31Do not gaze at wine while it is red, when it sparkles in the cup and goes down smoothly. 32In the end it bites like a snake and stings like a viper. 33Your eyes will see strange things, and your mind will utter perversities. 34You will be like one sleeping on the high seas or lying on the top of a mast: 35“They struck me, but I feel no pain! They beat me, but I did not know it! When can I wake up to search for another drink?”
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.