King James Bible
For they sleep not, except they have done mischief; and their sleep is taken away, unless they cause some to fall.

American Standard Version
For they sleep not, except they do evil; And their sleep is taken away, unless they cause some to fall.

Young's Literal Translation
For they sleep not if they do not evil, And their sleep hath been taken violently away, If they cause not some to stumble.

Proverbs 4:16 Additional Translations
Clarke's Commentary on the Bible

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 illnatured shepherd is well known: -

Et cum vidisti puero donata, dolebas:

Et si non aliqua nocuisses, mortuus esses.

Eclog. 3: 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."

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Proverbs 1:16 For their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed blood.

Psalm 36:4 He devises mischief on his bed; he sets himself in a way that is not good; he abhors not evil.

Isaiah 57:20 But the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt.

Micah 2:1 Woe to them that devise iniquity, and work evil on their beds! when the morning is light, they practice it...

Luke 22:66 And as soon as it was day, the elders of the people and the chief priests and the scribes came together, and led him into their council...

John 18:28 Then led they Jesus from Caiaphas to the hall of judgment: and it was early; and they themselves went not into the judgment hall...

2 Peter 2:14 Having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin; beguiling unstable souls...

Proverbs 4:16 Parallel Commentaries
Cause Caused Evil Except Fall Mischief Robbed Sleep Slumber Someone Someone's Stumble Unless Violently WrongCause Caused Evil Except Fall Mischief Robbed Sleep Slumber Someone Someone's Stumble Unless Violently WrongTHE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica®.

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