ReverendDisciplined desire

Proverbs 23 — Restraint at table, wise upbringing, and the dangers of wine — Hebrew and Greek compared

Saints Translation — Proverbs 1–31 [V1]

Same 6 Similar 6 Different 13 Divergent 7 Disparate 3

Disparate in this chapter: H 23:2, H 23:7, H 23:27

Each card keeps the independently rendered source readings above their shared comparison and reception notes. The badge records the source’s governing classification; disparate readings are marked in red. Each reading retains its original reference.

Proverbs 23 — Restraint at table, wise upbringing, and the dangers of wine

23:1–23:8 — Dining and the pursuit of wealth

Verse H 23:1 Similar

Hebrew–English (H)

H 23:1

When you sit to eat with a ruler,

carefully understand what is before you,

Greek–English (G)

G 23:1

If you sit to dine at the table of rulers,

thoughtfully consider what is set before you,

Comparison and reception

Similar. Text: H may concern who as well as what is before the diner; G explicitly names the things served.

Verse H 23:2 Disparate

Hebrew–English (H)

H 23:2

and put a knife to your throat

if you are a person of appetite.

Greek–English (G)

G 23:2

and lay your hand to it,

knowing that you must prepare such things;

Comparison and reception

Disparate. Text: H's hyperbolic restraint image uses a knife and throat; G instead speaks of laying a hand to the meal and being expected to provide comparable hospitality.

Verse H 23:3 Different

Hebrew–English (H)

H 23:3

Do not crave his delicacies,

for it is bread of lies.

Greek–English (G)

G 23:3

but if you are more insatiable, do not desire his foods,

for these belong to a false life.

Comparison and reception

Different. Text: G relocates the appetite condition here and calls the life false; H calls the bread deceptive.

Verse H 23:4 Different

Hebrew–English (H)

H 23:4

Do not weary yourself to become rich;

cease from your own understanding.

Greek–English (G)

G 23:4

Do not stretch yourself, being poor, to match a rich man,

but hold back in your own reflection;

Comparison and reception

Different. Text: H's second command literally says cease from your understanding, its force in the wealth pursuit being contextual. G explicitly depicts a poor person overextending toward a rich one.

Verse H 23:5 Divergent

Hebrew–English (H)

H 23:5

Will you make your eyes fly upon it, and it is gone?

For it surely makes wings for itself;

like an eagle it flies toward the heavens.

Greek–English (G)

G 23:5

If you fix your eye upon him, he will appear nowhere,

for wings like an eagle's have been prepared for him,

and he returns to the house of the one who presides over him.

Comparison and reception

Divergent. Text: H's fleeting object is wealth; G's masculine pronouns continue the rich person and finish with a superior's house, rather than flight to heaven. The G superior's identity is not supplied.

Verse H 23:6 Similar

Hebrew–English (H)

H 23:6

Do not eat the bread of one evil of eye,

and do not crave his delicacies,

Greek–English (G)

G 23:6

Do not dine with a begrudging man,

and do not desire his foods,

Comparison and reception

Similar. Text: H's evil eye describes grudging or envious hospitality; G names that character directly.

Verse H 23:7 Disparate

Hebrew–English (H)

H 23:7

for as he calculates within his life, so he is.

“Eat and drink,” he says to you,

but his heart is not with you.

Greek–English (G)

G 23:7

for as if someone swallowed a hair,

so he eats and drinks.

Comparison and reception

Disparate. Text: H's difficult sha'ar is provisionally calculation and contrasts an invitation with inward reluctance. G explicitly depicts swallowing a hair; no H-style calculation is inserted.

Verse H 23:8 Divergent

Hebrew–English (H)

H 23:8

You will vomit the morsel you ate,

and spoil your pleasant words.

Greek–English (G)

G 23:8

Do not bring him in to yourself and eat your morsel with him,

for he will vomit it and ruin your good words.

Comparison and reception

Divergent. Text: H's guest vomits; G warns against inviting the grudging man and makes him the one vomiting. G also adds that prohibition.

23:9–23:18 — Listening, protecting orphans, and discipline

Verse H 23:9 Same

Hebrew–English (H)

H 23:9

Do not speak in the ears of a fool,

for he will despise the prudence of your words.

Greek–English (G)

G 23:9

Say nothing into a fool's ears,

lest he sneer at your intelligent words.

Comparison and reception

Same. Text: Both warn of wise speech being despised by the fool.

Verse H 23:10 Same

Hebrew–English (H)

H 23:10

Do not move an ancient boundary,

and do not enter the fields of orphans,

Greek–English (G)

G 23:10

Do not move everlasting boundaries,

and do not enter an orphan's property,

Comparison and reception

Same. Text: Both protect inherited boundaries and orphan property.

Verse H 23:11 Similar

Hebrew–English (H)

H 23:11

for their Redeemer is strong;

He will plead their case against you.

Greek–English (G)

G 23:11

for the Lord who redeems them is mighty,

and He will judge their case with you.

Comparison and reception

Similar. Text: H's protecting redeemer is naturally divine in context; G explicitly names the Lord. The kinship-redemption and legal-defense images are retained.

Verse H 23:12 Same

Hebrew–English (H)

H 23:12

Bring your heart to discipline,

and your ear to sayings of knowledge.

Greek–English (G)

G 23:12

Give your heart to discipline,

and prepare your ears for words of discernment.

Comparison and reception

Same. Text: The attentive heart and ear closely agree.

Verse H 23:13 Similar

Hebrew–English (H)

H 23:13

Do not withhold discipline from a youth;

if you strike him with the rod, he will not die.

Greek–English (G)

G 23:13

Do not refrain from disciplining a little child,

for if you strike him with a rod, he will certainly not die;

Comparison and reception

Similar. Text: G calls the child nepios, younger or immature, rather than H's youth, and intensifies the denial. The claim belongs to the ancient disciplinary saying.

Verse H 23:14 Different

Hebrew–English (H)

H 23:14

You strike him with the rod,

and rescue his life from Sheol.

Greek–English (G)

G 23:14

for you will strike him with a rod,

but rescue his life from death.

Comparison and reception

Different. Text: H names Sheol, G death; both present the discipline as averting a destructive outcome.

Verse H 23:15 Similar

Hebrew–English (H)

H 23:15

My son, if your heart becomes wise,

my heart, mine also, will rejoice.

Greek–English (G)

G 23:15

Son, if your heart becomes wise,

you will gladden my heart too,

Comparison and reception

Similar. Text: G explicitly makes the son the agent gladdening the parent.

Verse H 23:16 Divergent

Hebrew–English (H)

H 23:16

And my kidneys will exult

when your lips speak upright things.

Greek–English (G)

G 23:16

and your lips will spend time in words

with my lips, if the words are upright.

Comparison and reception

Divergent. Text: H's kidneys, an image of inward feeling, rejoice; G describes conversation between the son's and parent's lips.

Verse H 23:17 Same

Hebrew–English (H)

H 23:17

Do not let your heart envy sinners,

but be in the fear of YHWH all day.

Greek–English (G)

G 23:17

Do not let your heart envy sinners,

but be in the fear of the Lord the whole day;

Comparison and reception

Same. Text: The contrast between envy and continual reverence closely agrees.

Verse H 23:18 Different

Hebrew–English (H)

H 23:18

For surely there is an afterward,

and your hope will not be cut off.

Greek–English (G)

G 23:18

for if you keep these things, you will have offspring,

and your hope will not depart.

Comparison and reception

Different. Text: H names a future outcome; G explicitly promises offspring and adds a keeping condition.

23:19–23:28 — Parents, wisdom, and fidelity

Verse H 23:19 Similar

Hebrew–English (H)

H 23:19

Hear, you, my son, and become wise,

and lead your heart straight in the way.

Greek–English (G)

G 23:19

Listen, son, and become wise,

and straighten the reflections of your heart.

Comparison and reception

Similar. Text: H directs the heart's path; G its reflections.

Verse H 23:20 Different

Hebrew–English (H)

H 23:20

Do not be among wine-guzzlers,

among those who gorge themselves on meat,

Greek–English (G)

G 23:20

Do not be a wine-drinker,

and do not stretch yourself over contributions and purchases of meat;

Comparison and reception

Different. Text: H warns against companion groups of excessive eaters and drinkers; G warns the individual against wine-drinking and overstretching through shared contributions or meat purchases.

Verse H 23:21 Divergent

Hebrew–English (H)

H 23:21

for the guzzler and glutton becomes poor,

and drowsiness clothes one in rags.

Greek–English (G)

G 23:21

for every drunkard and frequenter of prostitutes will become poor,

and every sleepy person will clothe himself in torn and ragged things.

Comparison and reception

Divergent. Text: G explicitly has pornokopos, one frequenting prostitutes, rather than H's glutton. Both connect drowsiness with ragged clothing.

Verse H 23:22 Same

Hebrew–English (H)

H 23:22

Listen to your father, who begot you,

and do not despise your mother when she is old.

Greek–English (G)

G 23:22

Listen, son, to the father who begot you,

and do not despise your mother because she has grown old.

Comparison and reception

Same. Text: The commands to honor both parents closely agree.

Verse H 23:23 Divergent

Hebrew–English (H)

H 23:23

Acquire truth, and do not sell it—

wisdom and discipline and understanding.

Greek–English (G)

G —

[No corresponding text in the displayed Greek main text.]

Comparison and reception

Divergent. Text: No G 23:23 entry is displayed.

Verse H 23:24 Different

Hebrew–English (H)

H 23:24

The father of a righteous person will greatly exult,

and one who begets a wise person rejoices in him.

Greek–English (G)

G 23:24

A righteous father brings up well,

and his life rejoices over a wise son;

Comparison and reception

Different. Text: H describes the righteous child and joyful father; G makes the father righteous and adds good upbringing. H's flattened forms are read contextually without an asserted apparatus correction.

Verse H 23:25 Same

Hebrew–English (H)

H 23:25

Let your father and your mother rejoice,

and let the one who bore you exult.

Greek–English (G)

G 23:25

let father and mother rejoice over you,

and let the one who bore you be glad.

Comparison and reception

Same. Text: Both call for parental joy.

Verse H 23:26 Different

Hebrew–English (H)

H 23:26

Give me your heart, my son,

and let your eyes delight in my ways,

Greek–English (G)

G 23:26

Give me your heart, son,

and let your eyes keep my ways;

Comparison and reception

Different. Text: H's displayed tirtsenah is rendered delight or favor; G explicitly has guarding the ways, without silently imposing that reading on H.

Verse H 23:27 Disparate

Hebrew–English (H)

H 23:27

for a prostitute is a deep pit,

and a foreign woman a narrow well.

Greek–English (G)

G 23:27

for another's house is a jar with holes,

and another's well is narrow;

Comparison and reception

Disparate. Text: H explicitly names two women and pits; G another person's house as a leaking vessel and a foreign well. The feminine women are not inserted into G's masculine house.

Verse H 23:28 Divergent

Hebrew–English (H)

H 23:28

She too lies in wait like a robber,

and increases the treacherous among humankind.

Greek–English (G)

G 23:28

for this will swiftly perish,

and every lawless person will be consumed.

Comparison and reception

Divergent. Text: H's woman ambushes and increases treachery; G predicts the ruin of the preceding house or its associated person and every lawless one. The masculine demonstrative's precise reference is qualified.

23:29–23:35 — The drinker's distress

Verse H 23:29 Different

Hebrew–English (H)

H 23:29

Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has disputes?

Who has complaint? Who has wounds without cause?

Who has redness of eyes?

Greek–English (G)

G 23:29

Who has woe? Who has uproar? Who has a lawsuit?

Who has unpleasantness and chatter?

Who has bruises for nothing?

Whose eyes are livid?

Comparison and reception

Different. Text: G expands the question-list and uses livid or bruised eyes; H's eye-color term is itself uncertain, rendered redness provisionally.

Verse H 23:30 Different

Hebrew–English (H)

H 23:30

Those who linger over wine,

those who come to investigate mixed drink.

Greek–English (G)

G 23:30

Is it not those who linger over wines?

Is it not those who track down where drinking parties take place?

Comparison and reception

Different. Text: H investigates the mixed drink itself; G searches for drinking occasions.

Verse H 23:31 Divergent

Hebrew–English (H)

H 23:31

Do not look at wine when it reddens,

when it gives its sparkle in the cup,

when it moves smoothly.

Greek–English (G)

G 23:31

Do not become drunk with wine, but associate with righteous people,

and converse during walks;

for if you give your eyes to bowls and cups,

afterward you will walk about barer than a pestle.

Comparison and reception

Divergent. Text: The publisher extraction displays written bakkois, with bag consonants; Mechon-Mamre explicitly pairs בכיס with the pointed reading bakkos, 'in the cup', followed here. G adds righteous company, walking, and the naked-pestle comparison. The supplemental Hebrew reading is distinguished from unconsulted BHS apparatus. [MM23]

Verse H 23:32 Different

Hebrew–English (H)

H 23:32

At its end it bites like a snake,

and strikes like a viper.

Greek–English (G)

G 23:32

But at the end he lies stretched out as though struck by a snake,

and as though by a horned viper its poison spreads through him.

Comparison and reception

Different. Text: H makes wine the biting agent; G shifts into third person for the stricken drinker and explicitly mentions spreading poison.

Verse H 23:33 Different

Hebrew–English (H)

H 23:33

Your eyes will see foreign things,

and your heart will speak perversities.

Greek–English (G)

G 23:33

When your eyes see another woman,

then your mouth will speak crooked things,

Comparison and reception

Different. Text: H zarot may denote strange sights or foreign women; 'foreign things' leaves its wider scope visible. G explicitly has a singular feminine foreign woman and mouth rather than heart.

Verse H 23:34 Different

Hebrew–English (H)

H 23:34

and you will be like one lying in the heart of the sea,

and like one lying at the top of the rigging.

Greek–English (G)

G 23:34

and you will lie down as in the heart of the sea,

and like a helmsman in heavy surging;

Comparison and reception

Different. Text: H's chibbel is provisionally the ship's mast or rigging; G instead names a helmsman in heavy waves.

Verse H 23:35 Different

Hebrew–English (H)

H 23:35

“They struck me, but I felt no hurt;

they beat me, but I did not know.

When will I wake?

I will seek it yet again.”

Greek–English (G)

G 23:35

and you will say, “They strike me, and I felt no pain;

they mocked me, but I did not know.

When will dawn come,

so that I may go and seek those with whom I will gather?”

Comparison and reception

Different. Text: H returns to seeking the drink after waking; G to seeking drinking companions at dawn, and has mockery in place of the second beating.