19 Listen, my son, and be wise,
and keep your heart on the right path! 20 Don’t be among ones drinking too much wine,
or those who gorge themselves on meat: 21 for the drunkard and the glutton shall become poor;
and drowsiness clothes them in rags. 22 Listen to your father who gave you life,
and don’t despise your mother when she is old. 23 Buy the truth, and don’t sell it.
Get wisdom, discipline, and understanding. 24 The father of the righteous has great joy.
Whoever fathers a wise child delights in him. 25 Let your father and your mother be glad!
Let her who bore you rejoice! 26 My son, give me your heart;
and let your eyes keep in my ways. 27 For a prostitute is a deep pit;
and a wayward wife is a narrow well. 28 Yes, she lies in wait like a robber,
and increases the unfaithful among men.
29 Who has woe?
Who has sorrow?
Who has strife?
Who has complaints?
Who has needless bruises?
Who has bloodshot eyes? 30 Those who stay long at the wine;
those who go to seek out mixed wine. 31 Don’t look at the wine when it is red,
when it sparkles in the cup,
when it goes down smoothly. 32 In the end, it bites like a snake,
and poisons like a viper. 33 Your eyes will see strange things,
and your mind will imagine confusing things. 34 Yes, you will be as he who lies down in the midst of the sea,
or as he who lies on top of the rigging: 35 “They hit me, and I was not hurt!
They beat me, and I don’t feel it!
When will I wake up? I can do it again.
I can find another.”
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Proverbs 23:19-35
Commentary on Proverbs 23:19-28
(Read Proverbs 23:19-28)
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.
Commentary on Proverbs 23:29-35
(Read Proverbs 23:29-35)
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.