Proverbs 4:17
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For they eat the bread of wickedness and drink the wine of violence.
Commentaries
Excerpts gathered from published commentaries to ground the reading.
When the things of God are to be taught precept must be upon precept, and line upon line, not only because the things themselves are of great worth and weight, but because men's minds, at the best, are unapt to admit them and commonly prejudiced against them; and therefore Solomon, in this chapter, with a great variety of expression and a pleasant powerful flood of divine eloquence, inculcates the same things that he had pressed upon us in the foregoing chapters. Here is, I. An earnest exhortation to the study of wisdom, that is, of true religion and godliness, borrowed from the good instructions which his father gave him, and enforced with many considerable arguments (Pro 4:1-13). II. A necessary caution against bad company and all fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness (Pro 4:14-19). III. Particular directions for the attaining and preserving of wisdom, and bringing forth the fruits of it (Pro 4:20-27). So plainly, so pressingly, is the case laid before us, that we shall be for ever inexcusable if we perish in our folly.
Open source ↗4:17 To eat . . . wickedness and drink . . . violence means that those attributes are at the very center of someone’s life. Just as we eat and drink to stay alive, evil people sustain themselves by committing evil acts.
Open source ↗Original language
The Hebrew and Greek words behind this passage, with Strong's numbers — from openscriptures (CC BY-SA).
Cross-references
Other passages the community most often connects to this one. Tap to read.
Will the workers of iniquity never learn? They devour my people like bread; they refuse to call upon the LORD.
“Stolen water is sweet, and bread eaten in secret is tasty!”
Food gained by fraud is sweet to a man, but later his mouth is full of gravel.
For the wealthy of the city are full of violence, and its residents speak lies; their tongues are deceitful in their mouths.
Her princes are roaring lions; her judges are evening wolves, leaving nothing for the morning.
This is what the LORD says: “As for the prophets who lead My people astray, who proclaim peace while they chew with their teeth, but declare war against one who puts nothing in their mouths:
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let in those who wish to enter.