“Stolen water is sweet, and bread eaten in secret is tasty!”
Parallel translations
- WEB “Stolen water is sweet. Food eaten in secret is pleasant.”
- KJV Stolen waters are sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant.
- NKJV “Stolenwater is sweet, And bread eaten in secret is pleasant.”
- NASB “Stolen water is sweet; And bread eaten in secret is pleasant.”
- NLT “Stolen water is refreshing; food eaten in secret tastes the best!”
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
Folly entices with the claim that stolen water is sweet and secret food pleasant. Sin promises hidden, forbidden pleasure.
Overview
Folly's appeal lies in the allure of the illicit—what is stolen and secret seems sweetest. This exposes the deceptive logic of temptation, which dresses sin in the appeal of forbidden delight while hiding its cost. Scripture warns that the pleasures of sin are fleeting and end in death (Hebrews 11:25; James 1:14-15).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Prov 20:17Food gained by fraud is sweet to a man, but later his mouth is full of gravel.
- Prov 23:31–32Do not gaze at wine while it is red, when it sparkles in the cup and goes down smoothly.
- Jas 1:14–15But each one is tempted when by his own evil desires he is lured away and enticed.
- Prov 30:20This is the way of an adulteress: She eats and wipes her mouth and says, ‘I have done nothing wrong.’
- Eph 5:12For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret.
- 2 Kgs 5:24–27When Gehazi came to the hill, he took the gifts from the servants and stored them in the house. Then he dismissed the men, and they departed.
- Gen 3:6When the woman saw that the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eyes, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom, she took the fruit and ate it. She also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate it.
- Prov 7:18–20Come, let us take our fill of love till morning. Let us delight in loving caresses!
- Rom 7:8But sin, seizing its opportunity through the commandment, produced in me every kind of covetous desire. For apart from the law, sin is dead.
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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 9:17 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.