“Stolen water is sweet; And bread eaten in secret is pleasant.”
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.
- BSB “Stolen water is sweet, and bread eaten in secret is tasty!”
- NKJV “Stolenwater 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 20:17Fraudulent food is sweet to a man, but afterwards his mouth is filled with gravel.
- Prov 23:31–32Don’t look at the wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup, when it goes down smoothly.
- Jas 1:14–15But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own lust, and enticed.
- Prov 30:20“So is the way of an adulterous woman: she eats and wipes her mouth, and says, ‘I have done nothing wrong.’
- Eph 5:12For the things which are done by them in secret, it is a shame even to speak of.
- 2 Kgs 5:24–27When he came to the hill, he took them from their hand, and stored them in the house. Then he let the men go, and they departed.
- Gen 3:6When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took some of its fruit, and ate; and she gave some to her husband with her, and he ate it, too.
- Prov 7:18–20Come, let’s take our fill of loving until the morning. Let’s solace ourselves with loving.
- Rom 7:8But sin, finding occasion through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of coveting. For apart from the law, sin is dead.
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 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.