Butter and honey shall he eat, that he may know to refuse the evil, and choose the good.
The prophet Isaiah lived around 700 BC and delivered God's messages to the nation of Judah during a tense political crisis. This verse is part of a famous prophecy about a child named Immanuel — a Hebrew name meaning "God with us." The detail about eating "curds and honey" sounds odd to modern ears, but to Isaiah's audience it pointed to humble, sparse living — a land not yet fully productive, suggesting this child grows up in simple, unglamorous circumstances. The moral heart of the verse is striking: this child will grow into the wisdom to tell right from wrong and will consistently choose what is right. Christians have long understood this prophecy as ultimately pointing forward to Jesus.
God, I am still learning. Give me the wisdom to tell right from wrong in the actual choices I face today — not just the obvious ones, but the quiet, subtle ones. And when I choose badly, be patient with me and bring me back. Amen.
Moral clarity is not a given. It is something grown into — slowly, through experience, formation, and a fair number of wrong turns. Even the Immanuel child in Isaiah's vision learns to reject wrong and choose right. That word "knows" implies a process, a development, a maturing into discernment. It is quietly extraordinary: not that he never faces the choice, but that he grows into knowing how to make it. We live in a moment that demands instant moral certainty — confident positions, clear sides, sharp takes. But the life of faith is often more like that child: growing, choosing, getting it wrong, and choosing again. Finding out what is right sometimes by learning what isn't. That is not weakness — that is the honest shape of a life genuinely oriented toward God. Give yourself some room for being in the middle of the process. And do not stop asking the question that actually matters: in the real choice in front of you today, what does it look like to reject the wrong and choose the right?
What do you think the image of "curds and honey" is meant to communicate about the circumstances this child grows up in — and why would Isaiah include that detail?
Isaiah wrote this prophecy hundreds of years before Jesus was born. What does it mean to you that God plans and speaks on that kind of timescale?
The verse implies that moral wisdom develops over time — you grow into knowing right from wrong. How does that match your own experience of moral and spiritual formation?
Who in your life helped shape your ability to tell right from wrong? How might you pass that kind of wisdom on to someone younger or newer to faith?
What is one real decision in front of you right now where you need to reject the wrong and choose the right — and what is making that hard?
But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.
Hebrews 5:14
And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment;
Philippians 1:9
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.
Matthew 3:4
Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish judgment in the gate: it may be that the LORD God of hosts will be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph.
Amos 5:15
Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.
Psalms 51:5
Hast thou found honey? eat so much as is sufficient for thee, lest thou be filled therewith, and vomit it.
Proverbs 25:16
That ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ;
Philippians 1:10
My son, eat thou honey, because it is good; and the honeycomb, which is sweet to thy taste:
Proverbs 24:13
He will eat curds and honey when he knows enough to refuse evil and choose good.
AMP
He shall eat curds and honey when he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good.
ESV
'He will eat curds and honey at the time He knows [enough] to refuse evil and choose good.
NASB
He will eat curds and honey when he knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right.
NIV
Curds and honey He shall eat, that He may know to refuse the evil and choose the good.
NKJV
By the time this child is old enough to choose what is right and reject what is wrong, he will be eating yogurt and honey.
NLT
By the time the child is twelve years old, able to make moral decisions,
MSG