And put a knife to your throat If you are a person of great appetite.
Parallel translations
- WEB put a knife to your throat, if you are a man given to appetite.
- KJV And put a knife to thy throat, if thou be a man given to appetite.
- BSB and put a knife to your throat if you possess a great appetite.
- NKJV And put a knife to your throat If you are a man given to appetite.
- NLT If you are a big eater, put a knife to your throat;
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Exercise sharp self-control over your appetite when you eat with the powerful.
Overview
The vivid "knife to your throat" is a striking call to restrain greedy appetite in a tempting setting. The danger is letting desire for fine food cloud judgment and place one under obligation. This teaches the broader discipline of mastering one's appetites, a self-control the Spirit produces in believers (Gal. 5:23).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 3
- Phil 3:19whose end is destruction, whose god is the belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who think about earthly things.
- Matt 18:8–9If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off, and cast it from you. It is better for you to enter into life maimed or crippled, rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into the eternal fire.
- 1 Cor 9:27but I beat my body and bring it into submission, lest by any means, after I have preached to others, I myself should be rejected.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Wisdom personified, with God before creation and the agent of all things, anticipates Christ 'in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom' — the wisdom of God made flesh.
How Proverbs 23:2 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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