Bible Strands
Proverbs 9:17
“Stolen water is sweet, and bread eaten in secret is tasty!”
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Folly addresses the simple and those lacking judgment immediately before revealing that her guests are already in the depths of Sheol. She speaks this line to mask her deadly trap with an appeal to forbidden pleasure.
The words — The verse highlights גְּנוּבִ֥ים (ge.nu.Vim), meaning stolen, and סְתָרִ֣ים (se.ta.Rim), meaning secret places. These terms directly describe the illicit nature of the water and bread being offered.
The thread — This pattern appears in Proverbs 20:17, Proverbs 23:31, and Proverbs 30:20. Each passage contrasts the immediate appeal of forbidden things with their hidden consequences.
Why it lands — It demands recognition that the text describes a warning about deceptive allure, not an endorsement of sin. The reader must see how the promise of secret pleasure masks a fatal destination.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Stolen waters are sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant.
Cross-references
- Proverbs 20:17 Food gained by fraud is sweet to a man, but later his mouth is full of gravel.
- Proverbs 23:31 Do not gaze at wine while it is red, when it sparkles in the cup and goes down smoothly.
- Proverbs 30:20 This is the way of an adulteress: She eats and wipes her mouth and says, ‘I have done nothing wrong.’
- James 1:14 But each one is tempted when by his own evil desires he is lured away and enticed.
- Genesis 3:6 When the woman saw that the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eyes, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom, she took the fruit and ate it. She also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate it.
- 2 Kings 5:24 When Gehazi came to the hill, he took the gifts from the servants and stored them in the house. Then he dismissed the men, and they departed.
- Proverbs 7:18 Come, let us take our fill of love till morning. Let us delight in loving caresses!
- Romans 7:8 But sin, seizing its opportunity through the commandment, produced in me every kind of covetous desire. For apart from the law, sin is dead.
- Ephesians 5:12 For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret.