Amsal 4:17

4:17 For they eat bread ¹  gained from wickedness ² 

and drink wine obtained from violence. ³ 

Amsal 30:22

30:22 under a servant ⁴  who becomes king,

under a fool who is stuffed with food, ⁵ 

Amsal 31:27

31:27 She watches over ⁶  the ways of her household,

and does not eat the bread of idleness. ⁷ 

[4:17]  ¹ tn The noun is a cognate accusative stressing that they consume wickedness.

[4:17]  ² tn Heb “the bread of wickedness” (so KJV, NAB, NIV, NRSV). There are two ways to take the genitives: (1) genitives of apposition: wickedness and violence are their food and drink (cf. TEV, CEV, NLT), or (2) genitives of source: they derive their livelihood from the evil they do (C. H. Toy, Proverbs [ICC], 93).

[4:17]  ³ tn Heb “the wine of violence” (so KJV, NAB, NIV, NRSV). This is a genitive of source, meaning that the wine they drink was plundered from their violent crime. The Hebrew is structured in an AB:BA chiasm: “For they eat the bread of wickedness, and the wine of violence they drink.” The word order in the translation is reversed for the sake of smoothness and readability.

[30:22]  ⁴ sn A servant coming to power could become a tyrant if he is unaccustomed to the use of such power, or he might retain the attitude of a servant and be useless as a leader.

[30:22]  ⁵ tn Heb “filled with food” (so ASV); NASB “satisfied with food”; NAB, NRSV “glutted with food”; CEV “who eats too much”; NLT “who prospers.”

[30:22]  sn The expression stuffed with food probably represents prosperity in general. So the line portrays someone who suddenly comes into wealth, but continues to be boorish and irreligious.

[31:27]  ⁶ tn The first word of the eighteenth line begins with צ (tsade), the eighteenth letter of the Hebrew alphabet.

[31:27]  ⁷ sn The expression bread of idleness refers to food that is gained through idleness, perhaps given or provided for her. In the description of the passage one could conclude that this woman did not have to do everything she did; and this line affirms that even though she is well off, she will eat the bread of her industrious activity.