Proverbs 25:27

It is not good ¹  to eat too much honey, nor is it honorable for people to seek their own glory. ² 

biblegateway Pro 25:27

It is not good to eat too much honey, nor is it honourable to seek one’s own honour.

biblegateway Pro 25:27

It is not good to eat much honey, Nor is it glory to search out one’s own glory.

biblegateway Pro 25:27

Just as it is not good to eat too much honey, it is not good for people to think about all the honors they deserve.

biblegateway Pro 25:27

It's not smart to stuff yourself with sweets, nor is glory piled on glory good for you.

SABDAweb Pro 25:27

It is not good to take much honey: so he who is not looking for honour will be honoured.

bibleoremus Pro 25:27

It is not good to eat much honey, or to seek honor on top of honor.

biblegateway Pro 25:27

It is not good to eat much honey; So to seek one’s own glory is not glory.

biblegateway Pro 25:27

It is not good ¹  to eat too much honey, nor is it honorable for people to seek their own glory. ² 

¹ sn This is a figure of speech known as tapeinosis – a deliberate understatement to emphasize a worst-case scenario: “it is bad!”

² tn Heb “and the investigation of their glory is not glory.” This line is difficult to understand but it forms an analogy to honey – glory, like honey, is good, but not to excess. The LXX rendered this, “it is proper to honor notable sayings.” A. A. MacIntosh suggests, “He who searches for glory will be distressed” (“A Note on Prov 25:27,” VT 20 [1970]: 112-14). G. E. Bryce has “to search out difficult things is glorious” (“Another Wisdom ‘Book’ in Proverbs,” JBL 91 (1972): 145-47). R. C. Van Leeuwen suggests, “to seek difficult things is as glory” (“Proverbs 25:27 Once Again,” VT 36 [1986]: 105-14). The Hebrew is cryptic, but not unintelligible: “seeking their glory [is not] glory.” It is saying that seeking one’s own glory is dishonorable.