Proverbs 9:5
in Proverbs 9“Come, eat my bread and drink the wine I have mixed.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Come, eat ye of my bread, And drink of the wine which I have mingled.
KJV
Come, eat of my bread, and drink of the wine which I have mingled.
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This verse in Proverbs 9
Commentary
12 notes on this verseBut do you want to eat, do you want to drink? Come to the banquet of wisdom which invites everyone with great preaching, saying: Come and eat my bread, and drink the wine which I have mixed for you. Do songs delight and soothe the feasting? Listen to the exhorter, listen to the Church singing, not only in songs, but also in the Song of Songs: Eat, my friends, and drink, and be intoxicated, my dears. But this drunkenness makes the sober; this drunkenness is of grace, not of intoxication. It generates joy, not stumbling.
This site's exposition
Wisdom hath builded her house
on Proverbs 9:1-6
Wisdom builds a house and hews seven pillars, and the bench takes the number as the figure of completeness the book uses elsewhere rather than an architectural report, a table fully furnished for whoever will come. She kills her beasts, mingles her wine and sends her maidens out with the invitation, and the summons is public exactly as chapter 8 was public: whoso is simple, let him turn in hither. Forsake the foolish, and live names the cost of the invitation before it names the gift, an exchange the guest must make to sit down at all.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers5 voices
And so he comes; whether you eat or drink, if you call upon Christ he is present, saying, "Come, eat of my bread and drink of my wine." Even if you are asleep, he is knocking at the door. He comes, I say, frequently and reaches in through the window. Frequently (but not always and not to everyone) he comes to that soul which can say, "At night I had put off my garment." For in this night of the world the garment of corporeal life is first to be taken off as the Lord divested himself in his flesh that for you he might triumph over the dominions and powers of this world.
"Come, eat of my bread, and drink of the wine which I have mingled for you;" by which is meant, that He gave His divine flesh and honoured blood to us, to eat and to drink it for the remission of sins.
A commentator
Didymus the BlindCOMMENTARY ON THE PROVERBS OF SOLOMON, FRAGMENT 9:5 · Written before 398.
proposed
The same food is called "meat," "bread," "milk" and "wine." However, fools say that they take it as [simply] bread and mixed wine. But if it were really taken in that manner, how would we interpret the words: "So men ate the bread of angels"? …
"Come and eat of my bread and drink the wine which I have mixed for you." Plato judged that the discourse over this bowl should be copied into his books, he summoned forth souls to drink of it, but did not know how to fill them, for he provided not the drink of faith but that of unbelief.
"Wisdom has prepared her table, she has slain her victims, she has mingled her wine in the bowl and cries with a loud voice, Turn in to me and eat the bread which I have prepared for you, and drink the wine which I have mingled for you."
5 more voices on this verse
The Medieval Church1 voice
Come, eat my bread, etc. In the bread, the divine words are expressed; in the mixed wine, the united nature of his divinity and humanity in one person of Christ is expressed, as was said above. Or certainly in the bread, it is shown the …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Come, eat of my bread,....
By faith acted on the promises of the gospel, applying them to ourselves and taking the comfort of them, we feed, we feast, upon the provisions Christ has made for poor souls. What we eat and drink we make our own, we are nourished and refreshed by it, and so are our souls by the word of God; it has that in it which is meat and drink to those that have understanding.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
Come, eat of my bread - Not only receive my instructions, but act according to my directions. Drink of the wine - I have mingled - Enter into my counsels; be not contented with superficial knowledge on any subject, where any thing deeper may be attained. Go by the streams to the fountain head. Look into the principles on which they were formed; investigate their nature, examine their properties, acquaint thyself with their relations, connections, influences, and various uses. See the skill power, and goodness of God in their creation.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
A parallel to the higher teaching of the Gospels (compare Joh 6:27; Mat 26:26).
The words behind it
6 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| לְ֭כוּ | lekhu | come | H1980 → | 1546 times |
| לַחֲמ֣וּ | lachamu | eat | H3898 → | 177 times |
| בְֽלַחֲמִ֑י | velachami | in food my | H3899 → | 298 times |
| וּ֝שְׁת֗וּ | ushetu | and drink | H8354 → | 217 times |
| בְּיַ֣יִן | beyayin | in [the] wine | H3196 → | 141 times |
| מָסָֽכְתִּי׃ | masakheti | [which] I have mixed | H4537 → |
לְ֭כוּcome
lekhuH1980 →1546 times
לַחֲמ֣וּeat
lachamuH3898 →177 times
בְֽלַחֲמִ֑יin food my
velachamiH3899 →298 times
וּ֝שְׁת֗וּand drink
ushetuH8354 →217 times
בְּיַ֣יִןin [the] wine
beyayinH3196 →141 times
מָסָֽכְתִּי׃[which] I have mixed
masakhetiH4537 →
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
John 6:27Do not work for food that perishes, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on Him God the Father has placed His seal of…
it leads to
- Colossians 3:2
Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.
- Isaiah 55:2
Why spend money on that which is not bread, and your labor on that which does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the…
- John 6:54
Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.
- 2 Timothy 2:19
Nevertheless, God’s firm foundation stands, bearing this seal: “The Lord knows those who are His,” and, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord must turn away from iniquity.”
- Matthew 6:19
Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.
- Colossians 3:2
Through
Proverbs 9:17“Stolen water is sweet, and bread eaten in secret is tasty!”
it leads to
- Proverbs 20:17
Food gained by fraud is sweet to a man, but later his mouth is full of gravel.
- Proverbs 23:31–32
Do not gaze at wine while it is red, when it sparkles in the cup and goes down smoothly.
- Proverbs 20:17
Through
Song of Solomon 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.…
it leads to
- Song of Solomon 6:2
My beloved has gone down to his garden, to the beds of spices, to pasture his flock in the gardens and to gather lilies.
- Song of Solomon 6:2
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies4
About Proverbs
This page draws on 13 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Ambrose of Milan, On Cain and Abel; Ambrose of Milan, Concerning Virginity 9:55; Ambrose of Milan, FLIGHT FROM THE WORLD 8:50; Bede, Commentary on Proverbs; Charles Bridges, An Exposition of the Book of Proverbs; Didymus the Blind, COMMENTARY ON THE PROVERBS OF SOLOMON, FRAGMENT 9:5; Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Proverbs of Solomon; Hippolytus of Rome, Hippolytus Exegetical Fragments; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Origen of Alexandria, ON FIRST PRINCIPLES 2:11.