Do not eat the bread of a stingy man, and do not crave his delicacies;
Parallel translations
- WEB Don’t eat the food of him who has a stingy eye, and don’t crave his delicacies:
- KJV Eat thou not the bread of him that hath an evil eye, neither desire thou his dainty meats:
- NKJV Do not eat the bread of a miser, Nor desire his delicacies;
- NASB ¶Do not eat the bread of a selfish person; Or desire his delicacies;
- NLT Don’t eat with people who are stingy; don’t desire their delicacies.
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
Do not accept the hospitality of a stingy, grudging host or crave his fine food.
Overview
The "stingy eye" describes a host who resents what he gives even while offering it. Wisdom discerns the heart behind apparent generosity and refuses food given grudgingly. Scripture instead prizes the cheerful giver whom God loves (2 Cor. 9:7), contrasting genuine generosity with this hollow show.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Ps 141:4Do not let my heart be drawn to any evil thing or take part in works of wickedness with men who do iniquity; let me not feast on their delicacies.
- Prov 23:3Do not crave his delicacies, for that food is deceptive.
- Dan 1:8–10But Daniel made up his mind that he would not defile himself with the king’s food or wine. So he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself.
- Deut 15:9Be careful not to harbor this wicked thought in your heart: “The seventh year, the year of release, is near,” so that you look upon your poor brother begrudgingly and give him nothing. He will cry out to the LORD against you, and you will be guilty of sin.
- Matt 20:15Do I not have the right to do as I please with what is mine? Or are you envious because I am generous?’
- Prov 28:22A stingy man hastens after wealth and does not know that poverty awaits him.
- Prov 22:9A generous man will be blessed, for he shares his bread with the poor.
- Deut 28:56The most gentle and refined woman among you, so gentle and refined she would not venture to set the sole of her foot on the ground, will begrudge the husband she embraces and her son and daughter
- Mark 7:22greed, wickedness, deceit, debauchery, envy, slander, arrogance, and foolishness.
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 23:6 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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