Eat thou not the bread of him that hath an evil eye, neither desire thou his dainty meats:
Parallel translations
- WEB Don’t eat the food of him who has a stingy eye, and don’t crave his delicacies:
- BSB Do not eat the bread of a stingy man, and do not crave his delicacies;
- 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 141:4Incline not my heart to any evil thing, to practise wicked works with men that work iniquity: and let me not eat of their dainties.
- Prov 23:3Be not desirous of his dainties: for they are deceitful meat.
- Dan 1:8–10But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s meat, nor with the wine which he drank: therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself.
- Deut 15:9Beware that there be not a thought in thy wicked heart, saying, The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand; and thine eye be evil against thy poor brother, and thou givest him nought; and he cry unto the LORD against thee, and it be sin unto thee.
- Matt 20:15Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? Is thine eye evil, because I am good?
- Prov 28:22He that hasteth to be rich hath an evil eye, and considereth not that poverty shall come upon him.
- Prov 22:9He that hath a bountiful eye shall be blessed; for he giveth of his bread to the poor.
- Deut 28:56The tender and delicate woman among you, which would not adventure to set the sole of her foot upon the ground for delicateness and tenderness, her eye shall be evil toward the husband of her bosom, and toward her son, and toward her daughter,
- Mark 7:22Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, 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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