Proverbs 24:13

My son, eat thou honey, because it is good; and the honeycomb, which is sweet to thy taste:

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
son	בְּנִ֣י be.Ni	H1121	a son (as a builder of the family name) · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix
eat	אֱכָל 'e.khol-	H398	to eat (literally or figuratively) · verb, qal imperative, 2nd person masculine singular
honey	דְבַ֣שׁ de.Vash	H1706	honey (from its stickiness) · noun, common masculine singular absolute
good	ט֑וֹב Tov	H2896	good (as an adjective) in the widest sense · adjective, masculine singular absolute
honeycomb	וְנֹ֥פֶת ve.No.fet	H5317	a dripping i.e. of honey (from the comb) · conjunction + noun, common feminine singular absolute
sweet	מָ֝ת֗וֹק ma.Tok	H4966	sweet · adjective, masculine singular absolute
taste	חִכֶּֽךָ chi.Ke.kha	H2441	properly · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

Isaiah 7:15 Butter and honey shall he eat, that he may know to refuse the evil, and choose the good.
Song of Solomon 5:1 I am come into my garden, my sister, my spouse: I have gathered my myrrh with my spice; I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey; I have drun…
Proverbs 25:16 Hast thou found honey? eat so much as is sufficient for thee, lest thou be filled therewith, and vomit it.
Psalms 119:103 How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!
Song of Solomon 4:11 Thy lips, O my spouse, drop as the honeycomb: honey and milk are under thy tongue; and the smell of thy garments is like the smell of Lebano…
Matthew 3:4 And the same John had his raiment of camel’s hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; and his meat was locusts and wild honey.
Psalms 19:10 More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.
Proverbs 25:27 It is not good to eat much honey: so for men to search their own glory is not glory.

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Proverbs 24:13-14

We are here quickened to the study of wisdom by the consideration both of the pleasure and the profit of it. 1. It will be very pleasant. We eat honey because it is sweet to the taste, and upon that account we call it good, especially that which runs first from the honey-comb. Canaan was said to flow with milk and honey, and honey was the common food of the country (Luk 24:41, Luk 24:42), even for children, Isa 7:15. Thus should we feed upon wisdom, and relish the good instructions of it. Those that have tasted honey need no further proof that it is sweet, nor can they by any argument be convinced of the contrary; so those that have experienced the power of truth and godliness are abundantly…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Proverbs 24:13

As delicious food whets the appetite, so should the rewards of wisdom excite us to seek it.

John Gill on Proverbs 24:13

My son, eat thou honey, because it is good,.... It is good for food; there was plenty of it in Palestine, and it was eaten for food, not only by children, but grown persons; and was very nourishing, strengthening, and refreshing to them, as Samson, Jonathan, John the Baptist, and others; and is good for medicine, is healthful and salutary, and useful in many diseases: it is said (m) to conduce much to prolong life and preserve from diseases; it has been observed that those who have much used it have lived to a great age; and the honeycomb, which is sweet to thy taste; because it is so, as all honey is, and especially that which is immediately squeezed or drops from the honeycomb; this is sa…

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Keil & Delitzsch on Proverbs 24:13-14

The proverb now following stands in no obvious relation with the preceding. But in both a commencement is made with two lines, which contain, in the former, the principal thought; in this here, its reason: 13 My son, eat honey, for it is good, And honeycomb is sweet to thy taste. 14 So apprehend wisdom for thy soul; When thou hast found it, there is a future, And thy hope is not destroyed. After its nearest fundamental thought, טוב, Arab. ṭejjib, means that which smells and tastes well; honey (דּבשׁ, from דּבשׁ, to be thick, consistent) has, besides, according to the old idea (e.g., in the Koran), healing virtue, as in general bitterness is viewed as a property of the poisonous, and sweetne…

The Church Fathers

Eat, my son, honey, for it is good, etc. It is very clear why he compares the doctrine of wisdom to honey and the honeycomb, because certainly, as the former surpasses foods, so the latter surpasses other teachings in sweetness. But there is a difference in the significance of each, because the honey, which is ready to eat, implies the moral surface of the letter; but the honeycomb, in which honey is expressed from the wax, figuratively denotes the allegorical speech, where, with the veil of the letter removed, the sense of spiritual sweetness is perceived with some labor or delay.
— Bede, Commentary on Proverbs

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Honey — (1.) Heb. ya’ar, occurs only 1 Sam. 14:25, 27, 29; Cant. 5:1, where it denotes the honey of bees. Properly the word signifies a forest or copse, and refers to honey found in woods. (2.) Nopheth,…
Honey · In the honeycomb sweetest and most valuable — In the honeycomb sweetest and most valuable
Wisdom · .UNCLASSIFIED SCRIPTURES RELATING TO — .UNCLASSIFIED SCRIPTURES RELATING TO
Young Men · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).

Proverbs 24:13

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Proverbs 24:13-14

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Proverbs 24:13

John Gill on Proverbs 24:13

Keil & Delitzsch on Proverbs 24:13-14

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Proverbs 24:13

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Proverbs 24:13-14

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Proverbs 24:13

John Gill on Proverbs 24:13

Keil & Delitzsch on Proverbs 24:13-14

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Proverbs 24:13-14

Rashi on Proverbs 24:13