Spreuken 4:16

16 Want zij slapen niet, zo zij geen kwaad gedaan hebben; en hun slaap wordt weggenomen, zo zij niet iemand hebben doen struikelen.

Spreuken 4:16 Meaning and Commentary

Proverbs 4:16

For they sleep not, except they have done mischief
Or they cannot sleep, as Jarchi and Gersom interpret it. Oftentimes they cannot sleep on their beds for devising mischief, their thoughts are so intensely set on contriving wicked schemes; and when they have so done, they cannot sleep until they have executed them; they are continually restless and uneasy day and night, like the troubled sea, constantly casting up mire and dirt. Who would keep such company as these? and their sleep is taken away, unless they cause [some] to fall;
into the snares and traps they lay for them, or into sin and calamity by it; the former of which they endeavour by all means to draw men into, and the latter is the unavoidable consequence of it. They imitate their father the devil, both delight in sin, and in the ruin of their fellow creatures; it is a sport to thereto do mischief, and they have no pleasure without it; see ( Proverbs 11:23 ) . What company are such!

Spreuken 4:16 In-Context

14 Kom niet op het pad der goddelozen, en treed niet op den weg der bozen.
15 Verwerp dien, ga er niet door; wijk er van, en ga voorbij.
16 Want zij slapen niet, zo zij geen kwaad gedaan hebben; en hun slaap wordt weggenomen, zo zij niet iemand hebben doen struikelen.
17 Want zij eten brood der goddeloosheid, en drinken wijn van enkel geweld.
18 Maar het pad der rechtvaardigen is gelijk een schijnend licht, voortgaande en lichtende tot den vollen dag toe.
The Dutch Staten Vertaling translation is in the public domain.