What Does Proverbs 9:5 Mean?
Come, eat of my bread, and drink of the wine I mix.
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
Come, eat of my bread, and drink of the wine which I have mingled.THE KEY
In Hebrew, “eat” and “bread” share the root ל־ח־ם, so Wisdom’s gift and the act of receiving it belong to one word family.
THE MEANING
Wisdom meets you with a table already prepared. Her words make understanding something you receive and take in: bread to eat and wine already mixed for drinking. The verse places you at the table as a guest, not a spectator.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that wisdom is only something to hear and analyze from a distance; here, wisdom is nourishment to be received.
THE ROOT
לַחֲמוּ
lachamu
GROWS FROM
לחם
L-Ḥ-M
Food and bread; to eat or feed.
“eat / bread” in this verse is lachamu. The Hebrew repeats ל־ח־ם in both what Wisdom gives and what the guest does; English separates them into “bread” and “eat.” The shared seed pictures Wisdom’s teaching as nourishment whose meaning is realized as it is taken in.
ALSO GROWS
lechem: Bread; food.
לֶחֶם
This is the noun translated “bread,” sharing its consonants with the verb for eating in the invitation.
lacham: To eat; to feed.
לָחַם
This verbal form names the guest’s action and ties it directly to Wisdom’s provision.
מָסָכְתִּי
masakhti
GROWS FROM
מסך
M-S-K
To mix or blend, especially a drink.
“I mix” in this verse is masakhti. Wisdom says she has blended the wine, describing deliberate preparation rather than mere pouring. The same verb appears as she prepares her table in Proverbs 9:2, so the invitation rests on a meal already made ready.
ALSO GROWS
masak: To mix or mingle.
מָסַךְ
This is the verb used for Wisdom’s preparation of the wine in Proverbs 9:2.
mesekh: A mixture; mixed wine.
מֶסֶךְ
This noun carries the root’s sense of a drink blended for the table.
THE PATTERN
Wisdom and divine life meet the reader as nourishment to receive and experience.
Ho, every one who thirsts, come to the waters, and whoever has no silver, come, break open and eat. Yes, come, break open wine and milk, without silver and without price.O taste and see that the LORD is good. Flourishing is the strong one who takes shelter in him.Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life. The one who comes to me shall never hunger, and the one who leans their full weight into me shall never thirst.THE THREAD
She slaughters her beasts; she mixes her wine; she also lays out her table.The same verb מָסַךְ (masak, to mix) appears in “mingled” here and in verse 2. The table is furnished and the wine blended before Wisdom calls the guest to eat.
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