Proverbs 25:17

17 Don't visit your neighbors too often; they may get tired of you and come to hate you.

Proverbs 25:17 Meaning and Commentary

Proverbs 25:17

Withdraw thy foot from thy neighbour's house
Not but that it is commendable to be neighbourly and friendly, or for one neighbour to visit another; but then it should not be very frequent; a man should not be always or often at his neighbour's house. So the words may be rendered, "make thy foot precious" or "rare at thy neighbour's house" ^F13; be seldom there; lest he be weary of thee, and [so] hate thee;
or, "lest he be sated with thee" ^F14; filled with thy company to a loathing of it, as the stomach with eating too much honey, and so his friendship be turned into hatred.

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FOOTNOTES:

F13 (rqx) "rarum fac", Montanus, Vatablus, Gejerus, Michaelis, Cocceius; Heb. "praetiosum fac", Piscator.
F14 (Kebvy Np) "ne forte satictur tui", Schultens; so Montanus; "saturatus", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.

Proverbs 25:17 In-Context

15 Patient persuasion can break down the strongest resistance and can even convince rulers.

16 Never eat more honey than you need; too much may make you vomit.

17 Don't visit your neighbors too often; they may get tired of you and come to hate you.

18 A false accusation is as deadly as a sword, a club, or a sharp arrow.

19 Depending on an unreliable person in a crisis is like trying to chew with a loose tooth or walk with a crippled foot.