“You will vomit up the morsels which you have eaten”: The meaning of the verb “vomit up” is clear, but it is not so clear how this line relates to the earlier part of the saying. One possibility is that it is the food that makes the guest sick, because it tastes bad or turns his stomach. A translation that takes this approach says “That food of his will make you vomit.” Another possibility is that it is the attitude of the host that makes the guest sick. A translation that follows this approach says “When you see through this man’s behavior, you will want to vomit up what you have eaten.” “Morsels” are small pieces of food, but the word is simply taken by some to refer to “the food you have eaten.” Others, however, try to put some emphasis on the idea of the small pieces of food; New Revised Standard Version and New International Version, for instance, say “You will vomit up the little you have eaten,” and Contemporary English Version says colorfully “Each bite will come back up.”

“And waste your pleasant words”: This is literally “and you will spoil your delightful words.” The way we express this will depend on our understanding of the context in which the “words” are spoken. Some understand that the person has used words of praise or fine words to get the host to invite him to a meal; in this case a suitable translation would be something like “and will have wasted your compliments” (New International Version) or “and all your compliments will have been wasted” (Revised English Bible). Revised Standard Version and others apparently take “delightful words” to refer more generally to conversation during the meal and thanks to the host for the invitation; Contemporary English Version “all your kind words will be wasted” is another way to express this.

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Proverbs. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2000. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .