For they eat the bread of wickedness and drink the wine of violence.
Parallel translations
- WEB 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.
- NKJV For they eat the bread of wickedness, And drink the wine of violence.
- NASB For they eat the bread of wickedness, And drink the wine of violence.
- NLT They eat the food of wickedness and drink the wine of violence!
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The wicked feed on wickedness and violence as if it were their food and drink. Evil has become their very sustenance.
Overview
Wickedness and violence are pictured as the bread and wine of the wicked, their daily nourishment and delight. Sin is not occasional for them but the substance of their lives. This contrasts sharply with the righteous, who feed on God's word and ultimately on Christ, the true bread of life (John 6:35).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Ps 14:4Will the workers of iniquity never learn? They devour my people like bread; they refuse to call upon the LORD.
- Prov 20:17Food gained by fraud is sweet to a man, but later his mouth is full of gravel.
- Jas 5:4–5Look, the wages you withheld from the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of Hosts.
- Prov 9:17“Stolen water is sweet, and bread eaten in secret is tasty!”
- Mic 6:12For the wealthy of the city are full of violence, and its residents speak lies; their tongues are deceitful in their mouths.
- Mic 3:5This 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:
- Zeph 3:3Her princes are roaring lions; her judges are evening wolves, leaving nothing for the morning.
- Jer 5:26–28For among My people are wicked men; they watch like fowlers lying in wait; they set a trap to catch men.
- Job 24:5–6Indeed, like wild donkeys in the desert, the poor go to work foraging for food; the wasteland is food for their children.
- Matt 23:13Woe 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.
- Ezek 22:25–29The conspiracy of the princes in her midst is like a roaring lion tearing its prey. They devour the people, seize the treasures and precious things, and multiply the widows within her.
- Amos 8:4–6Hear this, you who trample the needy, who do away with the poor of the land,
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Wisdom personified, with God before creation and the agent of all things, anticipates Christ 'in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom' — the wisdom of God made flesh.
How Proverbs 4:17 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.