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Proverbs 24:14

in Proverbs 24

Know therefore that wisdom is sweet to your soul. If you find it, there is a future for you, and your hope will never be cut off.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

So shalt thou know wisdom to be unto thy soul; If thou hast found it, then shall there be a reward, And thy hope shall not be cut off.

KJV

So shall the knowledge of wisdom be unto thy soul: when thou hast found it, then there shall be a reward, and thy expectation shall not be cut off.

This verse in Proverbs 24

Commentary

5 notes on this verse

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

So shall the knowledge of wisdom be unto thy soul - True religion, experimental godliness, shall be to thy soul as the honey-comb is to thy mouth. Then there shall be a reward, and thy expectation shall not be cut off - This is precisely the same with that in Pro 23:18 (note), where see the note.

This site's exposition

Eat honey, my son

on Proverbs 24:13-14

"Eat honey, my son, for it is good" returns to the father's direct address and uses the collection's favorite image for the sweetness of wisdom. "Know therefore that wisdom is sweet to your soul" makes the comparison plain. The promise that "your hope will never be cut off" repeats 23:18.

This site's exposition

wisdom is sweet to your soul

Albert Barnes calls honey a natural emblem of the simplest wisdom. Adam Clarke reads the sweetness as true godliness, which is to the soul what the honeycomb is to the mouth. The hope never cut off repeats 23:18, as Clarke notes.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

So shall the knowledge of wisdom be unto thy soul,....

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

The knowledge of wisdom - Better, Know that thus (like the honey) is wisdom to thy soul.

How the passage was read

What the Jewish commentators add

On the verses either side of this one

Eat honey, my son It is customary for people to eat honey because it is good; so too know wisdom for your soul, and just as you run to eat honey, so should you run to know wisdom.
Rashi: France, 1040–1105 · Rashi on Proverbs 24:13:1, via Sefaria, The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg

This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.

Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 6 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.

The words behind it

11 Hebrew words

Every 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.

  • כֵּ֤ן׀thus

    kenH3651 →771 times

  • דְּעֶ֥הknow !

    deehH3045 →945 times

  • חָכְמָ֗הwisdom

    chokhmahH2451 →153 times

  • לְנַ֫פְשֶׁ֥ךָfor self your

    lenafshekhaH5315 →754 times

  • אִם־if

    ʾim-H518 →1069 times

  • מָ֭צָאתָyou find [it]

    matzataH4672 →455 times

  • וְיֵ֣שׁand there

    veyeshH3426 →140 times

  • אַחֲרִ֑ית[is] a future

    ʾacharitH319 →61 times

  • וְ֝תִקְוָתְךָ֗and hope your

    vetikvatechaH8615 →34 times

  • לֹ֣אnot

    lo'H3808 →5168 times

  • תִכָּרֵֽת׃ פit will be cut off

    tikaretH3772 →288 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

The walk

8 stops

Each 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

    Jeremiah 15:16

    Your words were found, and I ate them. Your words became my joy and my heart’s delight. For I bear Your name, O LORD God of Hosts.

    it leads to

    • Job 23:12

      I have not departed from the command of His lips; I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my daily bread.

      Reached by 3 separate paths from here.

    • Psalms 19:10

      They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the comb.

      Reached by 3 separate paths from here.

    • Revelation 10:9–10

      And I went to the angel and said, “Give me the small scroll.” “Take it and eat it,” he said. “It will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will be as…

    • Ezekiel 3:1–3

      “Son of man,” He said to me, “eat what you find here. Eat this scroll, then go and speak to the house of Israel.”

    • Psalms 119:101–103

      I have kept my feet from every evil path, that I may keep Your word.

  • Through

    James 1:25

    But the one who looks intently into the perfect law of freedom, and continues to do so—not being a forgetful hearer, but an effective doer—he will be blessed in what he does.

    it leads to

    • Luke 11:28

      But He replied, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.”

  • Through

    Proverbs 23:18

    For surely there is a future, and your hope will not be cut off.

    it leads to

    • Hebrews 10:35

      So do not throw away your confidence; it holds a great reward.

  • Through

    Psalms 119:103

    How sweet are Your words to my taste— sweeter than honey in my mouth!

    it leads to

    • Proverbs 24:13–14

      Eat honey, my son, for it is good, and the honeycomb is sweet to your taste.

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

Where this verse is studied

On this page

About Proverbs

The Judgment of Solomon, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
The Judgment of Solomon, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Proverbs of Solomon; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament and John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763).