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IV. Sayings of the Wise[a]

17     The Words of the Wise:[b]
Incline your ear, and hear my words,(A)
    and let your mind attend to my teaching;
18 For it will be well if you hold them within you,
    if they all are ready on your lips.
19 That your trust may be in the Lord,
    I make them known to you today—yes, to you.
20 Have I not written for you thirty sayings,
    containing counsels and knowledge,
21 To teach you truly
    how to give a dependable report to one who sends you?
22 Do not rob the poor because they are poor,
    nor crush the needy at the gate;[c]
23 For the Lord will defend their cause,(B)
    and will plunder those who plunder them.
24 Do not be friendly with hotheads,
    nor associate with the wrathful,
25 Lest you learn their ways,
    and become ensnared.
26 Do not be one of those who give their hand in pledge,
    those who become surety for debts;(C)
27 For if you are unable to pay,
    your bed will be taken from under you.[d]
28 Do not remove the ancient landmark[e]
    that your ancestors set up.(D)
29 Do you see those skilled at their work?
    They will stand in the presence of kings,
    but not in the presence of the obscure.

Chapter 23

[f]When you sit down to dine with a ruler,
    mark well the one who is before you;
Stick the knife in your gullet[g]
    if you have a ravenous appetite.
Do not desire his delicacies;
    it is food that deceives.
Do not wear yourself out to gain wealth,
    cease to be worried about it;
When your glance flits to it, it is gone!
    For assuredly it grows wings,
    like the eagle that flies toward heaven.[h]
[i]Do not take food with unwilling hosts,
    and do not desire their delicacies;
For like something stuck in the throat is that food.
“Eat and drink,” they say to you,
    but their hearts are not with you;
The little you have eaten you will vomit up,
    and you will have wasted your agreeable words.
Do not speak in the hearing of fools;
    they will despise the wisdom of your words.(E)
10 Do not remove the ancient landmark,(F)
    nor invade the fields of the fatherless;[j]
11 For their redeemer is strong;
    he will defend their cause against you.(G)

Footnotes

  1. 22:17–24:22

    This collection consists of an introduction (22:17–21) urging openness and stating the purpose of the Words and diverse admonitions, aphorisms, and counsels. It is written with faith in the Lord, shrewdness, and a satirical eye. The first part seems aimed at young people intent on a career (22:22–23:11); the second is taken up with the concerns of youth (23:12–35); the third part is interested in the ultimate fate of the good and the wicked (24:1–22). The whole can be described as a guidebook of professional ethics. The aim is to inculcate trust in the Lord and to help readers avoid trouble and advance their careers by living according to wisdom. Its outlook is very practical: avoid bad companions because in time you will take on some of their qualities; do not post bond for others because you yourself will be encumbered; do not promote yourself too aggressively because such promotion is self-defeating; do not abuse sex or alcohol because they will harm you; do not emulate your peers if they are wicked (23:14; 24:1, 19) because such people have no future. Rather, trust the vocation of a sage (22:29–23:9).

    The Egyptian Instructions of Amenemope (written ca. 1100 B.C.) was discovered in 1923. Scholars immediately recognized it as a source of Prv 22:17–23:11. The Egyptian work has thirty chapters (cf. Prv 22:20); its preface resembled Prv 22:17–21; its first two admonitions matched the first two in Proverbs (Prv 22:22–25). There are many other resemblances as well, some of which are pointed out in the notes. The instruction of a father to his son (or an administrator to his successor) was a well-known genre in Egypt; seventeen works are extant, spanning the period from 2500 B.C. to the first century A.D. The instructions aimed to help a young person live a happy and prosperous life and avoid mistakes that cause difficulties. They make concrete and pragmatic suggestions rather than hold up abstract ideals. Pragmatic though they were, the instructions were religious; they assumed that the gods implanted an order in the world (Egyptian maat), which is found both in nature and in the human world. Amenemope represents a stage in the development of the Egyptian genre, displaying a new inwardness and quest for serenity while still assuming that the practice of virtue brings worldly success. Proverbs borrows from the Egyptian work with great freedom: it does not, for example, import as such the Egyptian concept of order; it engages the reader with its characteristic wit, irony, and paradox (e.g., 22:26–27; 23:1–3).

  2. 22:17–23:35 The maxims warn against: robbing the poor and defenseless (22:22–23), anger (22:24–25), giving surety for debts (22:26–27), advancing oneself by socializing with rulers (23:1–2), anxiety for riches (23:4–5), forcing oneself on a grudging host (23:6–8), intemperance in food and drink (23:19–21, 29–35), and adultery (23:26–28). They exhort to: careful workmanship (22:29), respect for the rights of orphans (23:10–11), correction of the young (23:13–14), filial piety (23:15–16, 22–25), and fear of the Lord (23:17–18).
  3. 22:22 At the gate: of the city, where justice was administered and public affairs discussed; cf. Ru 4:1. Cf. also Ps 69:13; 127:5; Prv 24:7; 31:23, 31. The Lord will personally avenge those who have no one to defend them.
  4. 22:27 Providing surety for a debtor puts one in danger of having the very basics of one’s life suddenly seized.
  5. 22:28 Landmark: marks the boundary of property. To remove it is the equivalent of stealing land. A similar warning is contained in 23:10.
  6. 23:1–9 Four admonitions for someone aspiring to be a sage: be careful about advancing your career by socializing with the great (vv. 1–3); avoid greed (vv. 4–5); do not force yourself on an unwilling host (vv. 6–8); do not waste your wisdom on those who cannot profit from it (v. 9).
  7. 23:2 Stick the knife in your gullet: a metaphor for self-restraint. The usual translation, “Put a knife to your throat,” is misleading, for in English it is a death threat. The exhortation is humorously exaggerated: stick the table-knife in your own gullet rather than take too much food. It assumes that the young courtier is unused to opulent banquets and will be tempted to overindulgence.
  8. 23:5 The frustration of covetous intent and elusiveness of wealth are portrayed by the sudden flight of an eagle. Amenemope, chap. 7, has a similar statement: “Do not set your heart on wealth. There is no ignoring Fate and Destiny; / Do not let your heart go straying.” Proverbs imagines covetous intent as a flight of the eyes, whereas Amenemope imagines it as a straying of the heart.
  9. 23:6–8 Some humorous advice on not trading on the courtesy of unwilling hosts who, for convention’s sake, use the language of welcome. Amenemope, chap. 11, gives similar advice: “Do not intrude on a man in his house, / Enter when you have been called; / He may say ‘Welcome’ with his mouth, / Yet deride you in his thoughts.” “Unwilling,” lit., “evil of eye,” is usually translated “stingy,” but the context suggests unwilling. In v. 8, the unwanted guest vomits up the food, thus destroying the desired good impression. Proverbs regards the uninvited banqueters as thieves who will suffer the consequences of their theft. Amenemope, chap. 11, is relevant: “Do not covet a poor man’s goods,…A poor man’s goods are a block in the throat, / It makes the gullet vomit.”
  10. 23:10 In Israel ownership of property and other legal rights were vested mainly in the father as head of the family; thus the widow and fatherless child were vulnerable, left prey to those who would exploit them.