Proverbs 4:16 BSB — MannaFest

Proverbs 4:16

For they cannot sleep unless they do evil; they are deprived of slumber until they make someone fall.

BSB

Parallel translations (2) ▾

ASV

For they sleep not, except they do evil; And their sleep is taken away, unless they cause some to fall.

KJV

For they sleep not, except they have done mischief; and their sleep is taken away, unless they cause some to fall.

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Commentary

2 voices

John Gill

1697–1771

Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)

For they sleep not, except they have done mischief,.... Or they cannot sleep, as Jarchi and Gersom interpret it. Oftentimes they cannot sleep on their beds for devising mischief, their thoughts are so intensely set on contriving wicked schemes; and when they have so done, they cannot sleep until they have executed them; they are continually restless and uneasy day and night, like the troubled sea, constantly casting up mire and dirt.

The record, by era

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible (1832)

Except they have done mischief - The night is their time for spoil and depredation. And they must gain some booty, before they go to rest. This I believe to be the meaning of the passage. I grant, also, that there may be some of so malevolent a disposition that they cannot be easy unless they can injure others, and are put to excessive pain when they perceive any man in prosperity, or receiving a kindness.

Voices on this verse

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Original language & word study

11 tagged words

Original	Transliteration	Meaning	Word study
כִּ֤י	ki	for	H3588 →
לֹ֣א	lo'	not	H3808 →
יִֽ֭שְׁנוּ	Yish.nu	they will sleep	H3462 →
אִם־	'im-	if	H518 →
לֹ֣א	lo'	not	H3808 →
יָרֵ֑עוּ	ya.Re.'u	they do harm	H7489 →
וְֽנִגְזְלָ֥ה	ve.nig.ze.Lah	and it is taken away	H1497 →
שְׁ֝נָתָ֗ם	She.na.Tam	sleep their	H8142 →
אִם־	'im-	if	H518 →
לֹ֥א	lo'	not	H3808 →
יַכְשִֽׁילוּ׃	yikh.sho.lu	they bring injury	H3782 →

Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread: the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.

The walk

The walk8

Where the connections lead

Follow this verse’s cross-references two steps out. Each card is a verse this one points to, and beneath it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several different paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it. Every stop shows its own words, and every stop is a page.

Through
Micah 2:1
Woe to those who devise iniquity and plot evil on their beds! At morning’s light they accomplish it because the power is in their hands.
leads to
- Psalms 36:4
  Even on his bed he plots wickedness; he sets himself on a path that is not good; he fails to reject evil.
- Isaiah 32:7
  The weapons of the scoundrel are destructive; he hatches plots to destroy the poor with lies, even when the plea of the needy is just.
- Psalms 7:14–16
  Behold, the wicked man travails with evil; he conceives trouble and births falsehood.
- Hosea 7:6–7
  For they prepare their heart like an oven while they lie in wait; all night their anger smolders; in the morning it blazes like a flaming fire.
- Nahum 1:11
  From you, O Nineveh, comes forth a plotter of evil against the LORD, a counselor of wickedness.
Through
2 Peter 2:14
Their eyes are full of adultery; their desire for sin is never satisfied; they seduce the unstable. They are accursed children with hearts trained in greed.
leads to
- 2 Peter 2:3
  In their greed, these false teachers will exploit you with deceptive words. The longstanding verdict against them remains in force, and their destruction does not sleep.
- 2 Peter 2:18
  With lofty but empty words, they appeal to the sensual passions of the flesh and entice those who are just escaping from others who live in error.
- Ephesians 2:3
  All of us also lived among them at one time, fulfilling the cravings of our flesh and indulging its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature children of wrath.

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About Proverbs

King Solomon in Old Age — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain

Proverbs: the study guide →Read chapter 4 →The featured study →

Continue: Proverbs 4 →

01Commentary

The record, by era

Voices on this verse

02Original language & word study

03The walk

Where the connections lead

04Related verses

05Featured studies on this passage

06About Proverbs

The record, by era

Where the connections lead

Commentary

Original language & word study

The walk

Related verses

Featured studies on this passage

About Proverbs