“For they eat the bread of wickedness and drink the wine of violence”: In this verse evil people are described in terms of “bread” and “wine”. “Violence” refers to bad actions that cause others to suffer. It may be physical or ethical. “Bread of wickedness” in the first line and “wine of violence” in the next line are handled in four ways by translators: (1) in their literal form as in Revised Standard Version; (2) “wickedness” and “violence” describe the manner in which “bread” and “wine” are obtained; for example, Revised English Bible “The bread they eat is gained by crime, the wine they drink is got by violence”; (3) as a figure, for example, Bible en français courant “They fill themselves with evil and intoxicate themselves with violence”; (4) as a plain statement, for example, “They are constantly wicked and violent.”

Since all of these are possible, you must decide which of the four is best in your language or what kinds of adjustments must be made to make clear the intended sense. For example, if you choose to follow approach (3), it may be possible to say “They gobble down evil like a person eats bread, and they fill themselves with violence like a person gulping down wine.” If the images of “bread” and “wine” are unsuitable, general terms or terms for local food and drink may be used. One translation says “Evil and violence are their food and drink.”

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Proverbs. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2000. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .