01 April 2015

EJ&T Proverbs 21-23: Evil eyes, winebibbers, and the riotous eaters of flesh

In the Every Jot and Tittle project, I am listing all of the Bible's commandments from Genesis to Revelation, in accordance with Jesus's words in Matthew 5:18-19. I have no idea how many commandments I'll find, but Jewish tradition claims there are 613. See here for a list of those that I've found so far.

  1. Teach your children well.
  2. Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it. Proverbs 22:6

  3. Don't rob poor people.
  4. Rob not the poor. Proverbs 22:22

  5. Don't be friends with angry people.
  6. Make no friendship with an angry man; and with a furious man thou shalt not go. Proverbs 22:24

  7. Don't agree to pay off other people's loans.
  8. (You might lose your bed.)
    Be not thou one of them that strike hands, or of them that are sureties for debts. If thou hast nothing to pay, why should he take away thy bed from under thee? Proverbs 22:26-27

  9. When you eat dinner with an important person, think about what to say and don't overeat.
  10. When thou sittest to eat with a ruler, consider diligently what is before thee: And put a knife to thy throat, if thou be a man given to appetite. Be not desirous of his dainties: for they are deceitful meat.Proverbs 23:1-3

  11. Don't try to get rich.
  12. Labour not to be rich: cease from thine own wisdom. Proverbs 23:4

  13. Don't eat bread with anyone who has an evil eye.
  14. Eat thou not the bread of him that hath an evil eye, neither desire thou his dainty meats. Proverbs 23:6

  15. Don't talk to fools.
  16. Speak not in the ears of a fool. Proverbs 23:9

  17. Don't walk on the fields of the fatherless.
  18. Enter not into the fields of the fatherless. Proverbs 23:10

  19. Stay away from wine drinkers.
  20. Be not among winebibbers. Proverbs 23:20

  21. Stay away from wild-eyed meat eaters.
  22. Be not ... among riotous eaters of flesh. Proverbs 23:20

  23. Don't hate your mother when she gets old.
  24. Despise not thy mother when she is old. Proverbs 23:22

  25. Don't look at the wine while it is red.
  26. (Or you'll see strange women and say perverse things.)
    Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright. At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder. Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thine heart shall utter perverse things. Proverbs 23:31-33

1 comment:

Unknown said...

You skipped over 23:27 -

For a whore is a deep ditch; and a strange woman is a narrow pit.

This sounds more like a construction site safety message from OSHA than advice on morality.

It is amazing that instead of taking personal responsibility for your actions, you are supposed to blame it on whores, strange women, the Devil et al.