¶My son, eat honey, for it is good; Yes, the honey from the comb 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:
- BSB Eat honey, my son, for it is good, and the honeycomb is sweet to your taste.
- NKJV My son, eat honey because it is good, And the honeycomb which 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 7:15He shall eat butter and honey when he knows to refuse the evil, and choose the good.
- Song 5:1I have come into 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, friends! Drink, yes, drink abundantly, beloved.
- Prov 25:16Have you found honey? Eat as much as is sufficient for you, lest you eat too much, and vomit it.
- Ps 119:103How sweet are your promises to my taste, more than honey to my mouth!
- Song 4:11Your lips, my bride, drip like the honeycomb. Honey and milk are under your tongue. The smell of your garments is like the smell of Lebanon.
- Prov 25:27It is not good to eat much honey; nor is it honorable to seek one’s own honor.
- Ps 19:10More to be desired are they than gold, yes, than much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and the extract of the honeycomb.
- Matt 3:4Now John himself wore clothing made 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.