Eat honey, my son, for it is good, and the honeycomb is sweet to your taste.
Parallel translations
- WEB My son, eat honey, for it is good; the droppings of the honeycomb, which are sweet to your taste:
- KJV My son, eat thou honey, because it is good; and the honeycomb, which is sweet to thy taste:
- NKJV My son, eat honey because it is good, And the honeycomb which is sweet to your taste;
- NASB ¶My son, eat honey, for it is good; Yes, the honey from the comb is sweet to your taste;
- NLT My child, eat honey, for it is good, and the honeycomb is sweet to the taste.
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
Eat honey, my son, for it is good and sweet, a fitting picture of something better.
Overview
The teacher commends honey as genuinely good and pleasant to the taste. This sensory image sets up the comparison in the next verse. Scripture often likens God's word and wisdom to honey, sweet and nourishing to those who receive it (Ps. 19:10; 119:103).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- Isa 7:15By the time He knows enough to reject evil and choose good, He will be eating curds and honey.
- Song 5:1I have come to my garden, my sister, my bride; I have gathered my myrrh with my spice. I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey; I have drunk my wine with my milk. Eat, O friends, and drink; drink freely, O beloved.
- Prov 25:16If you find honey, eat just what you need, lest you have too much and vomit it up.
- Ps 119:103How sweet are Your words to my taste—sweeter than honey in my mouth!
- Song 4:11Your lips, my bride, drip sweetness like the honeycomb; honey and milk are under your tongue, and the fragrance of your garments is like the aroma of Lebanon.
- Prov 25:27It is not good to eat too much honey or to search out one’s own glory.
- Ps 19:10They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the comb.
- Matt 3:4John wore a garment of camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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 24:13 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
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.