Proverbs 24:13-14

24:13 Eat honey, ¹  my child, for it is good,

and honey from the honeycomb is sweet to your taste.

24:14 Likewise, know ²  that wisdom is sweet ³  to your soul;

if you find it, ⁴  you will have a future, ⁵ 

and your hope will not be cut off.

[24:13]  ¹ sn The twenty-sixth saying teaches that one should develop wisdom because it has a profitable future. The saying draws on the image of honey; its health-giving properties make a good analogy to wisdom.

[24:14]  ² tn D. W. Thomas argues for a meaning of “seek” in place of “know” (“Notes on Some Passages in the Book of Proverbs,” JTS 38 [1937]: 400-403).

[24:14]  ³ tn The phrase “is sweet” is supplied in the translation as a clarification.

[24:14]  ⁴ tn The term “it” is supplied in the translation.

[24:14]  ⁵ tn Heb “there will be an end.” The word is אַחֲרִית (’akhrit, “after-part, end”). BDB 31 s.v. b says in a passage like this it means “a future,” i.e., a happy close of life, sometimes suggesting the idea of posterity promised to the righteous, often parallel to “hope.”