“He who is sated loathes honey”: “He” is literally “soul” and refers to “anyone” or “a person.” “Sated” means to be full, having eaten all you can (see 25.16). The Hebrew word that Revised Standard Version expresses as “loathes” is literally “tramples.” Revised Standard Version follows a slight modification to get “loathes”, which means “hates.” We should probably take the Hebrew “tramples” in the sense of “reject” or “be disgusted by.” “Honey”, as in 24.13, is here “a honeycomb.”

“But to one who is hungry everything bitter is sweet”: This line begins literally “to a hungry soul.” “Everything bitter is sweet” must often be expressed as “everything that is bitter tastes sweet” or “. . . has a sweet taste.” “Bitter” describes an acrid, astringent taste that is not salty, sour, or sweet. It is a disagreeable taste and in translation must often be expressed as “taste of a local fruit that is known to be bitter.” The saying is applicable to much more than just food. Biblia Dios Habla Hoy translates “He who is full rejects even honey; he who is hungry finds even that which is bitter tastes sweet to him.”

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 .