It is not good to eat too much honey or to search out one’s own glory.
Parallel translations
- WEB It is not good to eat much honey; nor is it honorable to seek one’s own honor.
- KJV It is not good to eat much honey: so for men to search their own glory is not glory.
- NKJV It is not good to eat much honey; So to seek one’s own glory is not glory.
- NASB It is not good to eat much honey, Nor is it glory to search out one’s own glory.
- NLT It’s not good to eat too much honey, and it’s not good to seek honors for yourself.
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
Just as too much honey is bad, seeking your own glory is not honorable. Self-exaltation, like excess, harms rather than helps.
Overview
Returning to the honey image of verse 16, the proverb links overindulgence with the unseemly pursuit of personal honor. True greatness does not grasp at praise but is content in humility (Prov 27:2). This contrasts sharply with Christ, who sought the Father's glory rather than his own (John 8:50).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- Prov 27:2Let another praise you, and not your own mouth—a stranger, and not your own lips.
- John 5:44How can you believe if you accept glory from one another, yet do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?
- Phil 2:3Do nothing out of selfish ambition or empty pride, but in humility consider others more important than yourselves.
- Prov 25:16If you find honey, eat just what you need, lest you have too much and vomit it up.
- 2 Cor 12:1I must go on boasting. Although there is nothing to gain, I will go on to visions and revelations from the Lord.
- 2 Cor 12:11I have become a fool, but you drove me to it. In fact, you should have commended me, since I am in no way inferior to those “super-apostles,” even though I am nothing.
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 25:27 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.