Proverbs 23:8

Study note

Setting — The wisdom teacher addresses a banquet guest who has just been verbally urged to eat and drink by a host who is inwardly tallying the cost. The moment captures the immediate aftermath of that transactional hospitality.

The words — The Hebrew תְּקִיאֶנָּה (te.ki.'E.nah) literally means "you will vomit up," and דְּבָרֶיךָ הַנְּעִימִים (de.va.Rei.kha ha.ne.'i.Mim) translates to "your pleasant words."

The thread — The text explicitly links this outcome to the preceding host's calculated generosity in Proverbs 23:7 and the subsequent warning against addressing a fool in Proverbs 23:9. The pattern of rejected speech and wasted provision recurs throughout the wisdom literature where relational exchange is treated as a transaction.

Why it lands — The verse demands recognition that hospitality offered without genuine goodwill produces only physical revulsion and discarded counsel. It requires the reader to evaluate the true motive behind invitations and to stop investing persuasive words where they will be mechanically consumed and immediately rejected.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.