Proverbs 20:17

20:17 Bread gained by deceit ¹  tastes sweet to a person, ² 

but afterward his mouth will be filled with gravel. ³ 

Proverbs 23:31-32

23:31 Do not look on the wine when it is red,

when it sparkles ⁴  in the cup,

when it goes down smoothly. ⁵ 

23:32 Afterward ⁶  it bites like a snake,

and stings like a viper.

Genesis 3:6

3:6 When ⁷  the woman saw that the tree produced fruit that was good for food, ⁸  was attractive ⁹  to the eye, and was desirable for making one wise, ¹⁰  she took some of its fruit and ate it. ¹¹  She also gave some of it to her husband who was with her, and he ate it. ¹² 

Romans 7:8

7:8 But sin, seizing the opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of wrong desires. ¹³  For apart from the law, sin is dead.

James 1:14-15

1:14 But each one is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desires. 1:15 Then when desire conceives, it gives birth to sin, and when sin is full grown, it gives birth to death.

[20:17]  ¹ tn Heb “bread of deceit” (so KJV, NAB). This refers to food gained through dishonest means. The term “bread” is a synecdoche of specific for general, referring to anything obtained by fraud, including food.

[20:17]  ² tn Heb “a man.”

[20:17]  ³ sn The image of food and eating is carried throughout the proverb. Food taken by fraud seems sweet at first, but afterward it is not. To end up with a mouth full of gravel (a mass of small particles; e.g., Job 20:14-15; Lam 3:16) implies by comparison that what has been taken by fraud will be worthless and useless and certainly in the way (like food turning into sand and dirt).

[23:31]  ⁴ tn Heb “its eye gives.” With CEV’s “bubbling up in the glass” one might think champagne was in view.

[23:31]  ⁵ tn The expression is difficult, and is suspected of having been added from Song 7:10, although the parallel is not exact. The verb is the Hitpael imperfect of הָלַךְ (halakh); and the prepositional phrase uses the word “upright; equity; pleasing,” from יָשָׁר (yashar). KJV has “when it moveth itself aright”; much more helpful is ASV: “when it goeth down smoothly.” Most recent English versions are similar to ASV. The phrase obviously refers to the pleasing nature of wine.

[23:32]  ⁶ tn Heb “its end”; NASB “At the last”; TEV (interpretively) “The next morning.”

[3:6]  ⁷ tn Heb “And the woman saw.” The clause can be rendered as a temporal clause subordinate to the following verb in the sequence.

[3:6]  ⁸ tn Heb “that the tree was good for food.” The words “produced fruit that was” are not in the Hebrew text, but are implied.

[3:6]  ⁹ tn The Hebrew word תַּאֲוָה (ta’avah, translated “attractive” here) actually means “desirable.” This term and the later term נֶחְמָד (nekhmad, “desirable”) are synonyms.

[3:6]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “that good was the tree for food, and that desirable it was to the eyes, and desirable was the tree to make one wise.” On the connection between moral wisdom and the “knowledge of good and evil,” see the note on the word “evil” in 2:9.

[3:6]  ¹¹ tn The pronoun “it” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied (here and also after “ate” at the end of this verse) for stylistic reasons.

[3:6]  ¹² sn This pericope (3:1-7) is a fine example of Hebrew narrative structure. After an introductory disjunctive clause that introduces a new character and sets the stage (3:1), the narrative tension develops through dialogue, culminating in the action of the story. Once the dialogue is over, the action is told in a rapid sequence of verbs – she took, she ate, she gave, and he ate.

[7:8]  ¹³ tn Or “covetousness.”