What Does Proverbs 23:6 Mean?
Do not eat the bread of the one whose eye is evil, nor crave his savory food.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
Eat thou not the bread of him that hath an evil eye, neither desire thou his dainty meats:THE KEY
The host’s “evil eye” makes the feast’s contradiction visible: plenty is offered while welcome is withheld.
THE MEANING
The verse names a present tension: an invitation can look generous while carrying a guarded heart. Its rich food can stir your desire even as the host’s eye discloses how much of the welcome is withheld.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A lavish table proves the welcome is wholehearted; this verse shows that abundance on the table can coexist with a heart held back.
THE ROOT
עַיִן
ʿayin
GROWS FROM
עין
ʿ-y-n
Eye; the same Hebrew noun also means a spring or source.
“eye is evil” in this verse is ʿayin. Hebrew uses עַיִן for both an eye and a spring. Here the phrase רַע עָיִן (raʿ ʿayin, “evil eye”) names a grudging gaze, making the host’s inward posture the source of what the table offers.
ALSO GROWS
ʿayin: Eye, the organ of sight
עַיִן
In “evil eye,” the host’s way of seeing reveals the quality of the welcome.
ʿein: Spring or source
עֵין
The shared word links the eye with a source, shading the host’s gaze as the source from which the welcome flows.
תִּתְאָו
tit’av
GROWS FROM
אוה
ʾ-w-h
Desire, long for.
The verb names an inward longing, not simply encountering food. The verse places that desire beside a guarded welcome, so appetite and the host’s divided heart remain in view together.
ALSO GROWS
ʾāvāh: To desire or long for
אָוָה
This verbal form shares the seed of the verse’s word for desire.
taʾavah: Desire or craving
תַּאֲוָה
The related noun makes clear that the verse is concerned with appetite growing into craving.
מַטְעַמֹּתָיו
matʿamotav
GROWS FROM
טעם
ṭ-ʿ-m
Taste or savor; the word family also conveys discernment and judgment.
“savory food” in this verse is matʿamotav. The word for these delicacies is formed from טעם, “taste,” whose word family also names discernment and judgment. Appetite and discernment meet in one root: the food’s appeal can be weighed alongside the quality of the welcome.
ALSO GROWS
ṭaʿam: Taste or flavor
טַעַם
The delicacies are named through tasting, emphasizing their pull on the palate.
ṭaʿam: Judgment or discernment
טַעַם
The same word family brings discernment alongside taste, echoing the need to perceive the heart behind the invitation.
THE PATTERN
The eye discloses whether an outward offer flows from an open heart or a withholding one.
Guard yourself, lest there be a worthless word in your heart, saying, "The seventh year, the year of release, draws near," and your eye be evil against your brother in want, and you give him nothing, and he cries out to the LORD against you, and there will be a shortcoming in you.For as he weighs within his living soul, so he is. "Eat and drink," he says to you, "but his heart is not with you."But if your eye is evil, your whole body will be full of darkness. So if the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!THE THREAD
For as he weighs within his living soul, so he is. "Eat and drink," he says to you, "but his heart is not with you."The next verse spells out the split behind the “evil eye”: the host says “Eat and drink,” yet his heart is not with the guest. It reveals why the feast can be plentiful while the welcome remains withheld.
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