Thy Strong Word

Hosted by Rev. Will Weedon, LCMS Director of Worship and International Center Chaplain.

With guest Rev. Matt Wood from Concordia Lutheran Church, Maplewood, Missouri.

Lutheran Heritage Foundation - Underwriter of Thy Strong Word — Underwriter of Thy Strong Word

Proverbs 23: When You Sit Down to Eat with a Ruler

1 When you sit down to eat with a ruler,
    observe carefully what^[a] is before you,
²and put a knife to your throat
    if you are given to appetite.
³Do not desire his delicacies,
    for they are deceptive food.
⁴Do not toil to acquire wealth;
    be discerning enough to desist.
⁵When your eyes light on it, it is gone,
    for suddenly it sprouts wings,
    flying like an eagle toward heaven.
⁶Do not eat the bread of a man who is stingy;^[b]
    do not desire his delicacies,
⁷for he is like one who is inwardly calculating.^[c]
    “Eat and drink!” he says to you,
    but his heart is not with you.
⁸You will vomit up the morsels that you have eaten,
    and waste your pleasant words.
⁹Do not speak in the hearing of a fool,
    for he will despise the good sense of your words.
¹⁰Do not move an ancient landmark
    or enter the fields of the fatherless,
¹¹for their Redeemer is strong;
    he will plead their cause against you.
¹²Apply your heart to instruction
    and your ear to words of knowledge.
¹³Do not withhold discipline from a child;
    if you strike him with a rod, he will not die.
¹⁴If you strike him with the rod,
    you will save his soul from Sheol.
¹⁵My son, if your heart is wise,
    my heart too will be glad.
¹⁶My inmost being^[d] will exult
    when your lips speak what is right.
¹⁷Let not your heart envy sinners,
    but continue in the fear of the Lord all the day.
¹⁸Surely there is a future,
    and your hope will not be cut off.

¹⁹Hear, my son, and be wise,
    and direct your heart in the way.
²⁰Be not among drunkards^[e]
    or among gluttonous eaters of meat,
²¹for the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty,
    and slumber will clothe them with rags.

²²Listen to your father who gave you life,
    and do not despise your mother when she is old.
²³Buy truth, and do not sell it;
    buy wisdom, instruction, and understanding.
²⁴The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice;
    he who fathers a wise son will be glad in him.
²⁵Let your father and mother be glad;
    let her who bore you rejoice.

²⁶My son, give me your heart,
    and let your eyes observe^[f] my ways.
²⁷For a prostitute is a deep pit;
    an adulteress^[g] is a narrow well.
²⁸She lies in wait like a robber
    and increases the traitors among mankind.

²⁹Who has woe? Who has sorrow?
    Who has strife? Who has complaining?
Who has wounds without cause?
    Who has redness of eyes?
³⁰Those who tarry long over wine;
    those who go to try mixed wine.
³¹Do not look at wine when it is red,
    when it sparkles in the cup
    and goes down smoothly.
³²In the end it bites like a serpent
    and stings like an adder.
³³Your eyes will see strange things,
    and your heart utter perverse things.
³⁴You will be like one who lies down in the midst of the sea,
    like one who lies on the top of a mast.^[h]
³⁵“They struck me,” you will say,^[i] “but I was not hurt;
    they beat me, but I did not feel it.
When shall I awake?
    I must have another drink.”

Footnotes:

Proverbs 23:1 Or who
Proverbs 23:6 Hebrew whose eye is evil
Proverbs 23:7 Or for as he calculates in his soul, so is he
Proverbs 23:16 Hebrew My kidneys
Proverbs 23:20 Hebrew those who drink too much wine
Proverbs 23:26 Or delight in
Proverbs 23:27 Hebrew a foreign woman
Proverbs 23:34 Or of the rigging
Proverbs 23:35 Hebrew lacks you will say

English Standard Version (ESV)

Rev. William Weedon

We have the distinct privilege of borrowing LCMS Director of Worship and International Center Chaplain Rev. William Chancellor Weedon for an hour a day to add Host of Thy Strong Word to his list of titles. Native to the central Maryland area just outside of Washington D.C., he enthusiastically enjoys his coffee, playing piano, and singing heartily, as well as spending time in the pool with his wife Cindi, three children and their spouses, and seven grandchildren. He’s one of those people that listens to Christmas music year-round, but we still let him in our studios. You may find him reading a good murder mystery or some writing by Johann Gerhard, Joseph Ratzinger, or Alexander Schmemann while eating a chocolate torte made by his wife Cindi. When he’s read all the books he can manage, he escapes outside to hike, bike, or even run in his Vivobarefoot shoes that Andy Bates, his favorite famous person, told him to buy.