Proverbs 4:17

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

and drink wine obtained from violence. ³ 

Proverbs 26:6

26:6 Like cutting off the feet or drinking violence, ⁴ 

so is sending ⁵  a message by the hand of a fool. ⁶ 

Proverbs 31:7

31:7 let them ⁷  drink and forget ⁸  their poverty,

and remember their misery no more.

[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.

[26:6]  ⁴ sn Sending a messenger on a mission is like having another pair of feet. But if the messenger is a fool, this proverb says, not only does the sender not have an extra pair of feet – he cuts off the pair he has. It would not be simply that the message did not get through; it would get through incorrectly and be a setback! The other simile uses “violence,” a term for violent social wrongs and injustice. The metaphorical idea of “drinking” violence means suffering violence – it is one’s portion. So sending a fool on a mission will have injurious consequences.

[26:6]  ⁵ tn The participle could be taken as the subject of the sentence: “the one who sends…cuts off…and drinks.”

[26:6]  ⁶ sn The consequence is given in the first line and the cause in the second. It would be better not to send a message at all than to use a fool as messenger.

[31:7]  ⁷ tn The subjects and suffixes are singular (cf. KJV, ASV, NASB). Most other English versions render this as plural for stylistic reasons, in light of the preceding context.

[31:7]  ⁸ tn The king was not to “drink and forget”; the suffering are to “drink and forget.”