For they sleep not, except they have done mischief; and their sleep is taken away, unless they cause [some] to fall.
16. their sleep is taken away ] Comp.:
“Ergo non aliter poterit dormire; quibusdam
Somnum rixa facit.” Juv. Sat. III. 281, 2.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Pro 4:16
Their sleep is taken away, unless they cause some to fall.
The proselytism of error
It is of the wicked that Solomon here speaks. What a restlessness does this indicate! What a zeal in a bad cause! The subject suggested by the text is the restless activity of evil men in the propagation of evil. A man is accountable for his creed as well as for his practice–accountable inasmuch as it must be through his own fault that he believes what is false just as much as it is through his own fault that he does what is wrong. This takes all force from the objection that they who sleep not except they bring over others to what themselves hold to be true are performing a duty rather than committing a sin. It would seem as though error were far more energetic than truth. Why should falsehood be thus zealous in diffusing itself? Allowing that it sets an example, allowing that it addresses a rebuke to truth, how are we to account for its being so surprisingly energetic and devoted? The holder of falsehood may make religion a matter of party. Error is that which the warmest adherent may support from pride, or jealousy, or ambition, but truth is that which can enlist these passions in none but the hypocrite. Error can work on all the corruptions of our nature, whereas truth has to hold these corruptions in check. That falsehood should have a missionary spirit follows on the fact of its being falsehood, and therefore forced to lean upon others for support. (H. Melvill, B.D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 16. Except they have done mischief] The night is their time for spoil and depredation. And they must gain some booty, before they go to rest. This I believe to be the meaning of the passage. I grant, also, that there may be some of so malevolent a disposition that they cannot be easy unless they can injure others, and are put to excessive pain when they perceive any man in prosperity, or receiving a kindness. The address in Virgil, to an ill-natured shepherd is well known: –
Et cum vidisti puero donata, dolebas:
Et si non aliqua nocuisses, mortuus esses.
ECLOG. iii. 14.
“When thou sawest the gifts given to the lad, thou wast distressed; and hadst thou not found some means of doing him a mischief, thou hadst died.”
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
They sleep not; they cannot compose themselves to sleep with quietness and satisfaction to their own minds. To fall into their own snares, either into sin or into mischief.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
16, 17. The reason is found inthe character of sinners, whose zeal to do evil is forcibly depicted(Pro 6:4; Psa 36:5).They live by flagrant vices (Pr1:13). Some prefer to render, “Their bread is wickedness,their drink violence” (compare Job 15:16;Job 34:7).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
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 Pr 11:23. What company are such!
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(16) For they sleep not . . .The practice of evil has become as it were a second nature to them, they cannot live without it.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
16. They sleep not A strong mode of saying they are restless to do evil. They love it more than they do their necessary sleep.
Mischief Hardly strong enough; wickedness. Comp. Mal 2:8.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Pro 4:16 For they sleep not, except they have done mischief; and their sleep is taken away, unless they cause [some] to fall.
Ver. 16. For they sleep not. ] So much are they set upon it. Or as empty stomachs can hardly sleep, so neither can graceless persons rest till gorged and glutted with the sweetmeats of sin, with the murdering morsels of mischief. The devil, their taskmaster, will not allow them time to sleep; which is very hard bondage. “They have eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease to sin.” 2Pe 2:14
Unless they cause some to fall.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
For. Hebrew. im l’o = because; i.e. the reason why they sleep not is because they mean mischief, and because they intend an occasion of stumbling.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Pro 1:16, Psa 36:4, Isa 57:20, Mic 2:1, Luk 22:66, Joh 18:28, 2Pe 2:14
Reciprocal: Gen 19:4 – But Gen 27:42 – comfort himself Gen 34:25 – Simeon Exo 1:22 – Every son Exo 32:22 – that they are Jdg 9:32 – by night 1Sa 23:14 – Saul 2Sa 15:2 – rose up 2Sa 17:1 – I will arise Ezr 4:23 – they went up Est 3:15 – hastened Est 5:14 – he caused Job 24:5 – rising Psa 26:10 – In Isa 59:4 – they conceive Jer 9:5 – weary Hos 7:6 – they Mic 7:3 – do Mat 27:1 – the morning Luk 11:24 – seeking Joh 13:30 – went Act 23:15 – that he Act 24:7 – the chief Act 25:2 – General
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
4:16 For they {f} sleep not, except they have done mischief; and their sleep is taken away, unless they cause [some] to fall.
(f) Meaning that to do evil is more proper and natural to the wicked than to sleep, eat or drink.