Proverbs 23:15-23

23:15 My child, ¹  if your heart is wise,

then my heart also will be glad;

23:16 my soul ²  will rejoice

when your lips speak what is right. ³ 

23:17 Do not let your heart envy ⁴  sinners,

but rather be zealous in fearing the Lord ⁵  all the time.

23:18 For surely there is a future, ⁶ 

and your hope will not be cut off. ⁷ 

23:19 Listen, my child, ⁸  and be wise,

and guide your heart on the right way.

23:20 Do not spend time ⁹  among drunkards, ¹⁰ 

among those who eat too much ¹¹  meat,

23:21 because drunkards and gluttons become impoverished,

and drowsiness ¹²  clothes them with rags. ¹³ 

23:22 Listen to your father who begot you,

and do not despise your mother when she is old.

23:23 Acquire ¹⁴  truth and do not sell it –

wisdom, and discipline, and understanding.

[23:15]  ¹ tn Heb “my son,” although the context does not limit this exhortation to male children.

[23:16]  ² tn Heb “my kidneys”; in biblical Hebrew the term was used for the innermost being, the soul, the central location of the passions. Cf. NASB, NIV “my inmost being.”

[23:16]  ³ sn This twelfth saying simply observes that children bring joy to their parents when they demonstrate wisdom. The quatrain is arranged in a chiastic structure (AB:B'A'): The first line (A) speaks of wisdom in the child, and it is paired with the last line (A') which speaks of the child’s saying what is right. In between these brackets are two lines (B and B') concerning joy to the parent.

[23:17]  ⁴ tn The verb in this line is אַל־יְקַנֵּא (’al-yÿqanne’), the Piel jussive negated. The verb means “to be jealous, to be zealous”; it describes passionate intensity for something. In English, if the object is illegitimate, it is called “envy”; if it is correct, it is called “zeal.” Here the warning is not to envy the sinners. The second colon could use the verb in the positive sense to mean “but rather let your passion burn for the fear of the Lord.”

[23:17]  ⁵ tn Heb “the fear of the Lord.” This expression features an objective genitive: “fearing the Lord.”

[23:18]  ⁶ tn Heb “end” (so KJV); ASV “a reward.”

[23:18]  ⁷ sn The saying is an understatement; far from being cut off, the “hope” will be realized in the end. So this saying, the thirteenth, advises people to be zealous for the fear of the Lord, their religion, rather than for anything that sinners have to offer.

[23:19]  ⁸ tn Heb “my son,” but the immediate context does not limit this to male children.

[23:20]  ⁹ tn Heb “do not be among,” but in the sense of “associate with” (TEV); “join” (NIV); “consort…with” (NAB).

[23:20]  ¹⁰ tn The verb סָבָא (sava’) means “to imbibe; to drink largely.” The participial construction here, סֹבְאֵי־יַיִן (sov’e-yayin), describes “drunkards” (cf. NLT) which is somewhat stronger than saying it refers to “people who drink too much” (cf. NIV, TEV).

[23:20]  ¹¹ tn The verb זָלַל (zalal) means “to be light; to be worthless; to make light of.” Making light of something came to mean “to be lavish with; to squander,” especially with regard to food. So it describes “gluttons” primarily; but in the expression there is also room for the person who wastes a lot of food as well.

[23:21]  ¹² tn Here “drowsiness” is a metonymy of effect or adjunct, put for the drunkenness and gluttony that causes it. So all of it, the drunkenness and the drowsiness that comes from it, brings on the ruin (cf. CEV “you will end up poor”). Likewise, “rags” is a metonymy of adjunct, associated with the poverty brought on by a dissolute lifestyle.

[23:21]  ¹³ sn This is the fourteenth saying, warning about poor associations. Drunkenness and gluttony represent the epitome of the lack of discipline. In the Mishnah they are used to measure a stubborn and rebellious son (m. Sanhedrin 8). W. G. Plaut notes that excessive drinking and eating are usually symptoms of deeper problems; we usually focus more on the drinking because it is dangerous to others (Proverbs, 241-42).

[23:23]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “buy” (so KJV, NASB, NIV, NLT); CEV “Invest in truth.”