Bible Strands
Proverbs 27:7
The soul that is full loathes honey, but to a hungry soul, any bitter thing is sweet.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The book of Proverbs delivers practical wisdom to a general audience seeking discernment. This verse sits between a warning about deceptive flattery and a metaphor about wandering from one’s home.
The words — The Hebrew נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh) denotes appetite, paired with שְׂבֵעָה (səḇʿāh, satisfied) and רְעֵבָה (rəʿēḇāh, hungry). The verb תָּבוּס (tāvūs) literally means "treads down," describing how a full appetite treats honey.
The thread — Physical hunger altering perception appears in Luke 15:16, where the prodigal son longs for pig pods, and Numbers 21:5, where Israelites call manna bitter. These passages mirror the verse’s contrast between satiety and need.
Why it lands — The text states that physical condition dictates perception, noting that a full soul despises sweetness while a hungry soul finds bitterness palatable. It demands readers identify what currently satisfies or starves their desires before drawing conclusions.
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.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
The full soul loatheth an honeycomb; but to the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet.
Cross-references
- Luke 15:16 He longed to fill his belly with the pods the pigs were eating, but no one would give him a thing.
- Numbers 11:18 And say to the people: Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow, and you will eat meat, because you have cried out in the hearing of the LORD, saying: ‘Who will feed us meat? For we were better off in Egypt!’ Therefore the LORD will give you meat, and you will eat.
- Numbers 21:5 and spoke against God and against Moses: “Why have you led us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no bread or water, and we detest this wretched food!”
- Numbers 11:4 Meanwhile, the rabble among them had a strong craving for other food, and again the Israelites wept and said, “Who will feed us meat?
- Job 6:7 My soul refuses to touch them; they are loathsome food to me.
- John 6:9 “Here is a boy with five barley loaves and two small fish. But what difference will these make among so many?”