PRO 27

Proverbs 27:7

WEB

A full soul loathes a honeycomb; but to a hungry soul, every bitter thing is sweet.

BSB

The soul that is full loathes honey, but to a hungry soul, any bitter thing is sweet.

KJV

The full soul loatheth an honeycomb; but to the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet.

Matthew Henry

Verse 7

Proverbs 27:7

Solomon here, as often in this book, shows that the poor have in some respects the advantage of the rich; for, 1. They have a better relish of their enjoyments than the rich have. Hunger is the best sauce. Coarse fare, with a good appetite to it has a sensible pleasantness in it, which those are strangers to whose hearts are overcharged with surfeiting. Those that fare sumptuously every day nauseate even delicate food, as the Israelites did the quails; whereas those that have no more than their necessary food, though it be such as the full soul would call bitter, to them it is sweet; they eat it with pleasure, digest it, and are refreshed by it. 2. They are more thankful for their enjoyments: The hungry will bless God for bread and water, while those that are full think the greatest dainties and varieties scarcely worth giving thanks for. The virgin Mary seems to refer to this when she says (Luk 1:53), The hungry, who know how to value God's blessings, are filled with good things, but the rich, who despise them, are justly sent empty away.

Cross-references: Luke 1:53

Hebrew interlinear

H5315

נֶפֶשׁnephesh/neh'-fesh/

n-f — breathing creature, animal, vitality

Derivation: from 5314;

properly, a breathing creature, i.e. animal of (abstractly) vitality; used very widely in a literal, accommodated or figurative sense (bodily or mental)

KJV: any, appetite, beast, body, breath, creature, × dead(-ly), desire, × (dis-) contented, × fish, ghost, greedy, he, heart(-y), (hath, × jeopardy of) life (× in jeopardy), lust, man, me, mind, mortally, one, own, person, pleasure, (her-, him-, my-, thy-) self, them (your) -selves, slay, soul, tablet, they, thing, (× she) will, × would have it.

נֶ֫פֶשׁ

n.f — soul

נֶ֫פֶשׁ 756 n.f. soul, living being, life, self, person, desire, appetite, emotion, and passion

1. = that which breathes, the breathing substance or being

2. The נפשׁ becomes a living being

3. The נפשׁ is specif.

4. The נפשׁ as the essential of man stands for the man himself

5. נפשׁ = seat of the appetites, in all periods (46 t.)

6. נ׳ = seat of emotions and passions

7. נפשׁ is used occasionally for mental acts

8. נפשׁ for acts of the will is dub.

9. נפשׁ = character is still more dub.

10. נ׳ in D

H7649

שָׂבֵעַsâbêaʻ/saw-bay'-ah/

a — satiated

Derivation: from 7646;

satiated (in a pleasant or disagreeable sense)

KJV: full (of), satisfied (with).

שָׂבֵעַ

adj — sated

שָׂבֵעַ adj. sated, satisfied, surfeited

H947

בּוּסbûwç/boos/

v — trample

Derivation: a primitive root;

to trample (literally or figuratively)

KJV: loath, tread (down, under (foot)), be polluted.

בּוּס

vb — tread down

[בּוּס] vb. tread down, trample

Qal tread down, trample (of warriors)

Pol. tread down, in bad sense

Hithpol. of the blind movements of infant’s limbs, kick out (this way and that), fig. of Jerusalem.

Hoph. pass. trodden down

H5317

נֹפֶתnôpheth/no'-feth/

n-m — dripping

Derivation: from 5130 in the sense of shaking to pieces;

a dripping i.e. of honey (from the comb)

KJV: honeycomb.

נֹ֫פֶת

n.m — flowing honey

נֹ֫פֶת n.m. flowing honey, honey from the comb

H7457

רָעֵבrâʻêb/raw-abe'/

a — hungry

Derivation: from 7456;

hungry (more or less intensely)

KJV: hunger bitten, hungry.

רָעֵב

adj — hungry

רָעֵב adj. hungry

H3605

כֹּלkôl/kole/

n-m — whole, all, any, every

Derivation: or (Jeremiah 33:8) כּוֹל; from 3634;

properly, the whole; hence, all, any or every (in the singular only, but often in a plural sense)

KJV: (in) all (manner, (ye)), altogether, any (manner), enough, every (one, place, thing), howsoever, as many as, (no-) thing, ought, whatsoever, (the) whole, whoso(-ever).

כֹּל

n.m — the whole

כֹּל once כּוֹל n.m. the whole, all

1. with foll. gen. (as usually) the whole of, to be rendered, however, often in our idiom, to avoid stiffness, any or every

2. Absolutely:

a. without the art., all things, all

b. with the art. הַכֹּל

(a). where the sense is limited by the context to things (or persons) just mentioned

(b). in a wider sense, all, whether of all mankind or of all living things, the universe, or of all the circumstances of life (chiefly late)

H4751

מַרmar/mar/

a-m — bitter, bitterness, bitterly

Derivation: or (feminine) מָרָה; from 4843;

bitter (literally or figuratively); also (as noun) bitterness, or (adverbially) bitterly

KJV: angry, bitter(-ly, -ness), chafed, discontented, × great, heavy.

מַר

adj — bitter

מַר adj. and subst. bitter, bitterness

H4966

מָתוֹקmâthôwq/maw-thoke'/

a — sweet

Derivation: or מָתוּק; from 4985;

sweet

KJV: sweet(-er, -ness).

מָתוֹק

adj — sweet

מָתוֹק adj. sweet, and n.[m.] sweetness

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