Proverbs 23:1
When thou shalt sit to eat with a prince, consider diligently what is set before thy face.
Open Proverbs 23:1 in the Motif Searcher, word by word across all five texts →Show on the spiral →The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Quando sederis ut comedas cum principe, diligenter attende quæ apposita sunt ante faciem tuam.
- Septuagint (Swete)
- ἐὰν καθίσῃς δειπνεῖν ἐπὶ τραπέζης δυναστῶν, νοητῶς νόει τὰ παρατιθέμενά σοι,
- Hebrew (WLC)
- כִּֽי תֵ֭שֵׁב לִלְח֣וֹם אֶת מוֹשֵׁ֑ל בִּ֥ין תָּ֝בִ֗ין אֶת אֲשֶׁ֥ר לְפָנֶֽיךָ
Haydock's commentary
Sit. Saul sat at table, and the custom of lying down was adopted only a little while before the captivity. It was recent among the Romans. (Calmet)
Soliti patres considere mensis. (Virgil, Æneid vii. 170.)
From Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, in the transcription made by Todd Easton and kept online by John Paul Wohlschied at johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock.
The Fathers on this verse
St Athanasius On the Councils of Ariminum and Seleucia. (De Synodis.), On the Symbols 'Of the Essence' And 'Coessential.'
42. Accordingly, as in saying ‘offspring,’ we have no human thoughts, and, though we know God to be a Father, we entertain no material ideas concerning Him, but while we listen to these illustrations and terms, we think suitably of God, for He is not as man, so in like manner, when we hear of ‘coessential,’ we ought to transcend all sense, and, according to the Proverb, ‘understand by the understanding what is set before us’ ( Prov. xxiii. 1 ); so as to know, that not by will, but in truth, is He genuine from the Father, as Life from Fountain, and Radiance from Light. Else why should we understand ‘offspring’ and ‘son,’ in no corporeal way, while we conceive of ‘coessential’ as after the manner of bodies? especially since these terms are not here used about different subjects, but of whom ‘offspring’ is predicated, of Him is ‘coessential’ also. …
St Ambrose On the Duties of the Clergy, Chapter XXXI. A kindness received should be returned with a freer hand. This is shown by the example of the earth. A passage from Solomon about feasting is adduced to prove the same, and is expounded later in a spiritual sense
162. Therefore Solomon says well: “When thou sittest to eat at the table of a ruler consider diligently what is before thee, and put forth thine hand, knowing that it behoves thee to make such preparations. But if thou art insatiable, be not desirous of his dainties, for they have but a deceptive life.” I have written these words as I wish that we all should follow them. It is a good thing to do a service, but he who knows not how to return one is very hard. The earth herself supplies an example of kindliness. She provides fruits of her own accord, which thou didst not sow; she also returns many-fold what she has received. …
St John Cassian The Conferences of John Cassian. Part I. Containing Conferences I-X, Chapter I. Abbot Moses' introduction on the grace of discretion
And so when we had enjoyed our morning sleep, when to our delight the dawn of light again shone upon us, and we had begun to ask once more for his promised talk, the blessed Moses thus began: As I see you inflamed with such an eager desire, that I do not believe that that very short interval of quiet which I wanted to subtract from our spiritual conference and devote to bodily rest, has been of any use for the repose of your bodies, on me too a greater anxiety presses when I take note of your zeal. …