Proverbs 4:17
in Proverbs 4For they eat the bread of wickedness and drink the wine of violence.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
For they eat the bread of wickedness, And drink the wine of violence.
KJV
For they eat the bread of wickedness, and drink the wine of violence.
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This verse in Proverbs 4
Commentary
7 notes on this verseThis site's exposition
Do not set foot on the path of the wicked
on Proverbs 4:14-17
Four short commands pile up, “Avoid it; do not travel on it” and “Turn from it and pass on by,” urging distance over argument. The wicked in view “cannot sleep unless they do evil” and “they eat the bread of wickedness and drink the wine of violence”.
This site's exposition
the bread of wickedness
Bread of wickedness can mean bread won by crime or wickedness eaten as daily food, and both fit the robbers of verse 16. Wine of violence is drink bought with plunder. Job 15:16 pictures a man who drinks up wrongdoing like water.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
They eat the bread of wickedness, etc. Thus, by the action of wicked crimes, they are delighted as if by set feasts. Or certainly they drink the wine of the condemned, and they rejoice in taking ears of grain from the hungry, as the holy …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
); they not only care not what hurt they do to those that stand in their way, but it is their business to do mischief, and their delight, purely for mischief-sake. They are continually designing and endeavouring to cause some to fall, to ruin them body and soul. Wickedness and malice are in their nature, and violence is in all their actions.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
18 ) and they will ruin thee if thou dost not." 2. "Consider the character of the way itself which thou art warned to shun, compared with the right way which thou art invited to walk in." (1.) The way of righteousness is light (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-citation-number+odd-straight-quotes
For they eat the bread of wickedness,....
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
For they eat the bread of wickedness - By privately stealing. And drink the wine of violence - By highway robbery.
The words behind it
7 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| כִּ֣י | ki | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| לָ֭חֲמוּ | lachamu | they eat | H3898 → | 177 times |
| לֶ֣חֶם | lechem | [the] bread of | H3899 → | 298 times |
| רֶ֑שַׁע | resha' | wickedness | H7562 → | 30 times |
| וְיֵ֖ין | veyein | and [the] wine of | H3196 → | 141 times |
| חֲמָסִ֣ים | chamasim | violence<s> | H2555 → | 60 times |
| יִשְׁתּֽוּ׃ | yishtu | they drink | H8354 → | 217 times |
כִּ֣יfor
kiH3588 →4482 times
לָ֭חֲמוּthey eat
lachamuH3898 →177 times
לֶ֣חֶם[the] bread of
lechemH3899 →298 times
רֶ֑שַׁעwickedness
resha'H7562 →30 times
וְיֵ֖יןand [the] wine of
veyeinH3196 →141 times
חֲמָסִ֣יםviolence<s>
chamasimH2555 →60 times
יִשְׁתּֽוּ׃they drink
yishtuH8354 →217 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Proverbs 9:17“Stolen water is sweet, and bread eaten in secret is tasty!”
it leads to
- Proverbs 20:17
Food gained by fraud is sweet to a man, but later his mouth is full of gravel.
- Proverbs 23:31–32
Do not gaze at wine while it is red, when it sparkles in the cup and goes down smoothly.
- Proverbs 20:17
Through
Psalms 14:4Will the workers of iniquity never learn? They devour my people like bread; they refuse to call upon the LORD.
it leads to
- Psalms 79:6
Pour out Your wrath on the nations that do not acknowledge You, on the kingdoms that refuse to call on Your name,
- Jeremiah 10:25
Pour out Your wrath on the nations that do not acknowledge You, and on the families that do not call on Your name. For they have devoured Jacob; they have consumed him and finished…
- Psalms 82:5
They do not know or understand; they wander in the darkness; all the foundations of the earth are shaken.
- Isaiah 64:7
No one calls on Your name or strives to take hold of You. For You have hidden Your face from us and delivered us into the hand of our iniquity.
- Psalms 79:6
Through
Proverbs 20:17Food gained by fraud is sweet to a man, but later his mouth is full of gravel.
it leads to
- Ecclesiastes 11:9
Rejoice, O young man, while you are young, and let your heart be glad in the days of your youth. Walk in the ways of your heart and in the sight of your eyes,…
- Proverbs 9:17–18
“Stolen water is sweet, and bread eaten in secret is tasty!”
- Ecclesiastes 11:9
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Proverbs
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Bede, Commentary on Proverbs; Charles Bridges, An Exposition of the Book of Proverbs; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.