1 Samuel 14:43

14:43 So Saul said to Jonathan, “Tell me what you have done.” Jonathan told him, “I used the end of the staff that was in my hand to taste a little honey. I must die!” ¹ 

Mazmur 19:11

19:11 Yes, your servant finds moral guidance there; ² 

those who obey them receive a rich reward. ³ 

Amsal 16:24

16:24 Pleasant words are like ⁴  a honeycomb, ⁵ 

sweet to the soul and healing ⁶  to the bones.

[14:43]  ¹ tn Heb “Look, I, I will die.” Apparently Jonathan is acquiescing to his anticipated fate of death. However, the words may be taken as sarcastic (“Here I am about to die!”) or as a question, “Must I now die?” (cf. NAB, NIV, NCV, NLT).

[19:11]  ² tn Heb “moreover your servant is warned by them.”

[19:11]  ³ tn Heb “in the keeping of them [there is] a great reward.”

[16:24]  ⁴ tn The comparative “like” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is implied by the metaphor; it is supplied in the translation for the sake of clarity.

[16:24]  ⁵ sn The metaphor of honey or the honeycomb is used elsewhere in scripture, notably Ps 19:10 [11]. Honey was used in Israel as a symbol of the delightful and healthy products of the land – “a land flowing with milk and honey” (Deut 6:3).

[16:24]  ⁶ sn Two predicates are added to qualify the metaphor: The pleasant words are “sweet” and “healing.” “Soul” includes in it the appetites, physical and spiritual; and so sweet to the “soul” would summarize all the ways pleasant words give pleasure. “Bones” is a metonymy of subject, the boney framework representing the whole person, body and soul. Pleasant words, like honey, will enliven and encourage the whole person. One might recall, in line with the imagery here, how Jonathan’s eyes brightened when he ate from the honeycomb (1 Sam 14:27).