Proverbs 25:17

17 Make your foot scarce in the house of your neighbor, lest he become weary of you and 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.


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 {With patience} a ruler may be persuaded, and a soft tongue will break a bone.
16 [If] you find honey, eat what is sufficient for you, lest you have your fill of it and vomit it out.
17 Make your foot scarce in the house of your neighbor, lest he become weary of you and hate you.
18 [Like] a club and sword and a sharp arrow [is] a man who bears false witness against his neighbor.
19 A bad tooth and a lame foot [is] the trust of a faithless person {in a time} of trouble.
Scripture quotations marked (LEB) are from the Lexham English Bible. Copyright 2012 Logos Bible Software. Lexham is a registered trademark of Logos Bible Software.