Proverbs 4:17 (DRB)

Passage

They eat the bread of wickedness, and drink the wine of iniquity.

Nearby Context

Proverbs 4:15 Flee from it, pass not by it: go aside, and forsake it.

Proverbs 4:16 For they sleep not, except they have done evil: and their sleep is taken away unless they have made some to fall.

Proverbs 4:17 They eat the bread of wickedness, and drink the wine of iniquity.

Proverbs 4:18 But the path of the just, as a shining light, goeth forwards, and increaseth even to perfect day.

Proverbs 4:19 The way of the wicked is darksome: they know not where they fall.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "bread", "wickedness", "drink", "wine", and "iniquity". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "bread" and "wickedness", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 16's "For they sleep not except they have..." into verse 18's "But the path of the just as...", so "bread" and "wickedness" belong inside that flow. In Proverbs context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "bread" and "wickedness" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.