19 Listen, my son, and be wise, and guide your heart on the right course.
20 Do not join those who drink too much wine or gorge themselves on meat.
21 For the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty, and drowsiness will clothe them in rags.
Focused Passage
Proverbs 23:19-21
Guarded Desire, Wise Discipline, the Fear of the LORD, and Warnings Against Envy, Gluttony, Lust, and Drunkenness
The chapter moves through warnings about appetite and wealth, discernment at corrupt tables, protection of boundaries and the fatherless, heart-applied instruction and discipline, parental joy, fear of the LORD over envy, warnings against gluttony and drunkenness, honoring parents, buying truth, sexual purity, and a final extended portrait of wine's deceptive destruction.
Berean Standard Bible, Public Domain - Translation notes - Reference sources
Study Helps
References and Original Words
Verse 19
Cross-references
Original words
Listen שְׁמַע־ H8085 Verb - Qal - Imperative - masculine singular . . . אַתָּ֣ה H859 Pronoun - second person masculine singular my son בְנִ֣י H1121 Noun - masculine singular construct | first person common singular and be wise וַחֲכָ֑ם H2449 Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Imperative - masculine singular and guide וְאַשֵּׁ֖ר H833 Conjunctive waw | Verb - Piel - Imperative - masculine singular your heart לִבֶּֽךָ׃ H3820 Noun - masculine singular construct | second person masculine singular on the right course בַּדֶּ֣רֶךְ H1870 Preposition-b, Article | Noun - common singular
Verse 20
Cross-references
Original words
Do not אַל־ H408 Adverb join תְּהִ֥י H1961 Verb - Qal - Imperfect Jussive - second person masculine singular those who drink too much בְסֹֽבְאֵי־ H5433 Preposition-b | Verb - Qal - Participle - masculine plural construct wine יָ֑יִן H3196 Noun - masculine singular or gorge בְּזֹלֲלֵ֖י H2151 Preposition-b | Verb - Qal - Participle - masculine plural construct themselves on meat בָשָׂ֣ר H1320 Noun - masculine singular
Verse 21
Cross-references
Original words
For כִּי־ H3588 Conjunction the drunkard סֹבֵ֣א H5433 Verb - Qal - Participle - masculine singular and the glutton וְ֭זוֹלֵל H2151 Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Participle - masculine singular will come to poverty יִוָּרֵ֑שׁ H3423 Verb - Nifal - Imperfect - third person masculine singular and drowsiness נוּמָֽה׃ H5124 Noun - feminine singular will clothe them תַּלְבִּ֥ישׁ H3847 Verb - Hifil - Imperfect - third person feminine singular in rags וּ֝קְרָעִ֗ים H7168 Conjunctive waw | Noun - masculine plural