Proverbs 9:17 (BSB)

“Stolen water is sweet, and bread eaten in secret is tasty!”

From Proverbs 9. Also in the ESV.

Commentary on Proverbs 9:17

• Matthew Henry (Presbyterian), Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary on Proverbs 9:13-18: We have heard what Christ has to say, to engage our affections to God and godliness, and one would think the whole world should go after him; but here we are told how industrious the tempter is to seduce unwary souls into the paths of sin, and with the most he gains his point, and Wisdom's courtship is not effectual. Now observe, I.
• John Gill (Reformed Baptist), Exposition of the Old and New Testaments on Proverbs 9:17: But he knoweth not that the dead are there,.... In the house of this foolish and wicked woman, into which she invites passengers to turn; the simple, that is persuaded by her, does not consider that there are none there to be his companions, but such who are dead in a moral or spiritual sense; that, though they live in pleasure, they are dead while they live.
• Jamieson-Fausset-Brown (Reformed), Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible on Proverbs 9:17: The language of a proverb, meaning that forbidden delights are sweet and pleasant, as fruits of risk and danger.
• Keil & Delitzsch (Lutheran), Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament on Proverbs 9:16-17: Pro 9:16-17 The woman, who in her own person serves as a sign to her house, addresses those who pass by in their innocence (לתמּם, 2Sa 15:11): 16 “Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither!” And if any one is devoid of understanding, she saith to him: 17 “Stolen waters taste sweet, And the bread of secrecy is pleasant.” פּתי (folly, simplicity) has a...