Proverbs 23:8

8 Thou shalt spew out the meat, which thou hast eaten; and thou shalt lose thy fair words (and thy flattery shall have been wasted).

Proverbs 23:8 Meaning and Commentary

Proverbs 23:8

The morsel [which] thou hast eaten, shalt thou vomit up
It shall turn in thy stomach, thou shall not be able to keep it, when thou understandest thou art not welcome; or thou wilt wish thou hadst never eaten a bit, or that thou couldest vomit up what thou hast; so disagreeable is the thought of being unwelcome, or when this appears to be the case; and lose thy sweet words;
expressed in thankfulness to the master of the feast, in praise of his food, in pleasantry with him, and the other guests at table; all which are repented of when a man finds he is not welcome.

Proverbs 23:8 In-Context

6 Eat thou not with an envious man, and desire thou not his meats; (Do not thou eat with the envious, and do not thou desire his food;)
7 for at the likeness of a false diviner, and of a conjecturer, that is, (an) expounder of dreams, he guesseth that, that he knoweth not. He shall say to thee, Eat thou and drink; and his soul is not with thee (but his heart is not for thee/but his heart is not with thee).
8 Thou shalt spew out the meat, which thou hast eaten; and thou shalt lose thy fair words (and thy flattery shall have been wasted).
9 Speak thou not in the ears of unwise men (Speak thou not in the ears of the unwise); for they shall despise the teaching of thy speech.
10 Touch thou not the terms, (or the boundary stones, of the property) of little children; and enter thou not into the field of fatherless and motherless children.
Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.