Proverbs 23:6

THE MESSAGE

8 Don't accept a meal from a tightwad; don't expect anything special. He'll be as stingy with you as he is with himself; he'll say, "Eat! Drink!" but won't mean a word of it. His miserly serving will turn your stomach when you realize the meal's a sham.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Don’t eat a stingy person’s bread,and don’t desire his choice food,

Hebrew Names Version
Don't eat the food of him who has a stingy eye, And don't crave his delicacies:

King James Version
Eat thou not the bread of him that hath an evil eye, neither desire thou his dainty meats:

English Standard Version
Do not eat the bread of a man who is stingy; do not desire his delicacies,

New American Standard Bible
Do not eat the bread of a selfish person; Or desire his delicacies;

New Century Version
Don't eat the food of selfish people; don't be greedy for their fine foods.

Amplified Bible
Do not eat the bread of a selfish man, Or desire his delicacies;

World English Bible
Don't eat the food of him who has a stingy eye, And don't crave his delicacies:

Geneva Bible (1587)
Eate thou not the bread of him that hath an euil eye, neither desire his deintie meates.

Legacy Standard Bible
Do not eat the bread of a selfish man,And do not desire his delicacies;

Berean Standard Bible
Do not eat the bread of a stingy man, and do not crave his delicacies;

Contemporary English Version

-8-

Don't accept an invitation to eat a selfish person's food, no matter how good it is.

Complete Jewish Bible
Don't eat the food of a stingy man; don't be greedy for his delicacies.

Darby Translation
Eat thou not the food of him that hath an evil eye, neither desire thou his dainties.

Easy-to-Read Version
Don't eat with selfish people. Control any desire you have for their finest foods.

George Lamsa Translation
Do not eat with a hypocrite, neither desire his food;

Good News Translation

-8-

Don't eat at the table of a stingy person or be greedy for the fine food he serves.

Lexham English Bible
Do not eat the bread of the stingy, and do not desire his delicacies.

Literal Translation
Do not eat the bread of one having an evil eye, and do not desire his delicacies,

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Eate not thou wt ye envyous, and desyre no his meate,

American Standard Version
Eat thou not the bread of him that hath an evil eye, Neither desire thou his dainties:

Bible in Basic English
Do not take the food of him who has an evil eye, or have any desire for his delicate meat:

JPS Old Testament (1917)
Eat thou not the bread of him that hath an evil eye, neither desire thou his dainties;

King James Version (1611)
Eate thou not the bread of him that hath an euill eye, neither desire thou his dainty meates.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
Eate thou not the bread of hym that hath an euyll eye: neither desire thou his daintie meate.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
Sup not with an envious man, neither desire thou his meats:

English Revised Version
Eat thou not the bread of him that hath an evil eye, neither desire thou his dainties:

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Ete thou not with an enuyouse man, and desire thou not hise metis;

Update Bible Version
Don't eat the bread of him that has an evil eye, Neither desire his dainties:

Webster's Bible Translation
Eat thou not the bread of [him that hath] an evil eye, neither desire thou his dainties:

New English Translation
Do not eat the food of a stingy person, do not crave his delicacies;

New King James Version
Do not eat the bread of a miser, [fn] Nor desire his delicacies;

New Living Translation
Don't eat with people who are stingy; don't desire their delicacies.

New Life Bible
Do not eat the bread of a man who thinks only about himself. Do not have a desire for his fine food.

New Revised Standard
Do not eat the bread of the stingy; do not desire their delicacies;

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Do not eat the food of him that hath a begrudging eye, neither crave thou his dainties;

Douay-Rheims Bible
Eat not with an envious man, and desire not his meats:

Revised Standard Version
Do not eat the bread of a man who is stingy; do not desire his delicacies;

Young's Literal Translation
Eat not the bread of an evil eye, And have no desire to his dainties,

New American Standard Bible (1995)
Do not eat the bread of a selfish man, Or desire his delicacies;

Contextual Overview

⁶8 Don't accept a meal from a tightwad; don't expect anything special. He'll be as stingy with you as he is with himself; he'll say, "Eat! Drink!" but won't mean a word of it. His miserly serving will turn your stomach when you realize the meal's a sham.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

an: Proverbs 22:9, Deuteronomy 15:9, Deuteronomy 28:56, Matthew 20:15, Mark 7:22

desire: Proverbs 23:3, Psalms 141:4, Daniel 1:8-10

Reciprocal: Deuteronomy 28:54 - his eye Proverbs 28:22 - an evil Isaiah 32:5 - nor Daniel 11:27 - shall be to 2 Corinthians 9:7 - not

Cross-References

Genesis 21:22
At about that same time, Abimelech and the captain of his troops, Phicol, spoke to Abraham: "No matter what you do, God is on your side. So swear to me that you won't do anything underhanded to me or any of my family. For as long as you live here, swear that you'll treat me and my land as well as I've treated you."

Genesis 23:1
Sarah lived 127 years. Sarah died in Kiriath Arba, present-day Hebron, in the land of Canaan. Abraham mourned for Sarah and wept.

Genesis 23:5
The Hittites responded, "Why, you're no mere outsider here with us, you're a prince of God! Bury your dead wife in the best of our burial sites. None of us will refuse you a place for burial."

Genesis 24:18
She said, "Certainly, drink!" And she held the jug so that he could drink. When he had satisfied his thirst she said, "I'll get water for your camels, too, until they've drunk their fill." She promptly emptied her jug into the trough and ran back to the well to fill it, and she kept at it until she had watered all the camels. The man watched, silent. Was this God 's answer? Had God made his trip a success or not?

Genesis 42:10
"No, master," they said. "We've only come to buy food. We're all the sons of the same man; we're honest men; we'd never think of spying."

Exodus 32:22
Aaron said, "Master, don't be angry. You know this people and how set on evil they are. They said to me, ‘Make us gods who will lead us. This Moses, the man who brought us out of Egypt, we don't know what's happened to him.'

Ruth 2:13
She said, "Oh sir, such grace, such kindness—I don't deserve it. You've touched my heart, treated me like one of your own. And I don't even belong here!"

Isaiah 45:14
God says: "The workers of Egypt, the merchants of Ethiopia, and those statuesque Sabeans Will all come over to you—all yours. Docile in chains, they'll follow you, Hands folded in reverence, praying before you: ‘Amazing! God is with you! There is no other God—none.'"

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Eat thou not the bread of [him that hath] an evil eye,.... A sordid covetous man, that grudges every bit that is eaten, in opposition to a man of a good eye, or a bountiful one, that is liberal and generous, Proverbs 22:9; if he invites to a meal, do not accept of it, sit not down at his table to eat with him:

neither desire thou his dainty meats; or savoury food, so as to lust after it; Proverbs 22:9- :.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

A different danger from that of Proverbs 23:1. The hazard here is the hospitality of the purse-proud rich, avaricious or grudging even in his banquets.

Evil eye - Not with the later associations of a mysterious power for mischief, but simply, as in the margin ref. and in Matthew 20:15.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Proverbs 23:6. Of him that hath an evil eye — Never eat with a covetous or stingy man; if he entertains you at his own expense, he grudges every morsel you put in your mouth. This is well marked by the wise man in the next verse: "Eat and drink, saith he: but his heart is not with thee."