Translations
F.O.G.MPrimary
F.O.G MessageA full stomach turns up its nose at even honey, but to a starving soul every bitter thing tastes sweet.
F.O.GSecondary
The F.O.GA sated being despises even honeycomb, but to a hungry being every bitter thing tastes sweet.
KJV
King James VersionThe full soul loatheth an honeycomb; but to the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet.
BSB
Berean Standard BibleThe soul that is full loathes honey, but to a hungry soul, any bitter thing is sweet.
Footnotes
The Hebrew *nephesh* (נֶפֶשׁ) literally means 'throat' — the organ of eating and breathing — and by extension the entire creaturely self in its desiring, needing dimension. FOG uses 'being' to signal that the whole person is meant, not a disembodied soul. FOG Message pairs 'stomach' and 'soul' to layer the physical and existential meanings across the two halves of the verse. The proverb works simultaneously as practical observation, as a warning against excess, and as an anthropological note on the relativity of desire.