My son, eat thou honey, because it is good; and the honeycomb, which is sweet to thy taste:
This verse comes from the book of Proverbs in the Old Testament, a collection of wise sayings traditionally associated with King Solomon — a king of ancient Israel celebrated for his extraordinary wisdom. On the surface, it reads as a father's simple, warm advice to his son: honey is genuinely good, so enjoy it. But in Hebrew wisdom literature, honey was a well-established image for wisdom itself — the very next verse (Proverbs 24:14) makes this parallel explicit, comparing wisdom to honey. The verse carries a double gift: it affirms the goodness of physical pleasure, and it points beyond it. God did not design sweetness as a trick or a trap. Some things are simply, truly good — and that's worth saying out loud.
God, you made sweetness — honey, laughter, a good meal, a morning that actually feels like morning. Help me stop rushing past the good things you've placed in my days. Teach me to receive them as gifts, not accidents. Thank you for making a world with things worth tasting. Amen.
There's something quietly disarming about finding a Bible verse that just tells you to eat honey. No conditions, no fine print, no "but first repent." Just: here's something sweet, it's good, go ahead. It's easy to develop a low-grade suspicion that God is stingy with pleasure — that faith means trading sweetness for duty, delight for discipline. But this verse doesn't traffic in that idea. A father points his son toward something genuinely good and says: enjoy it. The next verse reveals the deeper metaphor — wisdom is like this honey — but notice the sequence: the physical sweetness comes first. God apparently thinks the best way to describe wisdom is to point you toward something you already know tastes good. So when you sit with a cup of coffee while the house is quiet, or taste something that makes you close your eyes for a second — that's not a distraction from spiritual life. It might actually be a small, honest act of faith. Receive what is sweet. Say thank you for it. Don't rush past it.
What do you think the writer is ultimately pointing to with the honey image, and why do you think he chose something physical and sensory to make a spiritual point?
What simple, genuine pleasures in your life have you been rushing past, minimizing, or feeling vaguely guilty about enjoying?
Do you think your faith community tends more toward embracing good pleasures or being suspicious of them — and where do you think that tendency comes from?
How might genuinely savoring good things, and expressing gratitude for them, change the quality of your presence with the people around you?
This week, what is one small, sweet thing you could slow down long enough to truly taste — and intentionally thank God for?
Pleasant words are as an honeycomb , sweet to the soul, and health to the bones.
Proverbs 16:24
It is not good to eat much honey: so for men to search their own glory is not glory.
Proverbs 25:27
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
Butter and honey shall he eat, that he may know to refuse the evil, and choose the good.
Isaiah 7:15
How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!
Psalms 119:103
Hast thou found honey? eat so much as is sufficient for thee, lest thou be filled therewith, and vomit it.
Proverbs 25:16
When wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul;
Proverbs 2:10
My son, eat honey, because it is good, And the drippings of the honeycomb are sweet to your taste.
AMP
My son, eat honey, for it is good, and the drippings of the honeycomb are sweet to your taste.
ESV
My son, eat honey, for it is good, Yes, the honey from the comb is sweet to your taste;
NASB
Eat honey, my son, for it is good; honey from the comb is sweet to your taste.
NIV
My son, eat honey because it is good, And the honeycomb which is sweet to your taste;
NKJV
My child, eat honey, for it is good, and the honeycomb is sweet to the taste.
NLT
Eat honey, dear child—it's good for you— and delicacies that melt in your mouth.
MSG