4:17

Notice the parallel parts that are similar in meaning:

17a For they eat the bread of wickedness

17b and drink the wine of violence.

4:17a–b

For: This word introduces an explanation for why the wicked people in the previous verse cannot sleep until they do something wrong. It is because wickedness and violence are like food and drink to them.

they eat the bread of wickedness…drink the wine of violence: There are two ways to interpret these parallel statements:

(1) These statements are metaphors. They compare doing wicked and violent things to eating bread and drinking wine. They imply that for evil people, doing wrong is as necessary or natural as eating and drinking. For example:

They feast on wickedness and cruelty as if they were eating bread and drinking wine. (New Century Version)

(2) These statements indicate the means by which evil people get their bread and wine. They get bread and wine by doing wicked and violent things. For example:

They eat food obtained through wrongdoing and drink wine obtained through violence. (God’s Word)

It is recommended that you follow interpretation (1). This interpretation better fits the context in 4:16 that wrongdoing is necessary for wicked people.

Bread and wine were the staple food and drink of that time. In some cultures today, bread is considered a luxury item or a snack food and wine is not drunk at meals. If that is true in your culture, it may be better to translate with more general terms. For example:

Wickedness and violence are like food and drink to them (Good News Translation)

Notice that the Good News Translation has changed the metaphors to a simile. It has also combined and/or reordered the parallel parts.

of wickedness…of violence: The second term clarifies the first by specifying the kind of wickedness that it is talking about. The word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as violence refers to injury and probably murder.

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