Proverbs 4:17

17"Stolen water is sweet, And bread eaten in secret is pleasant."

17Bread gained by deceit is sweet to a man, But afterward his mouth will be filled with gravel.

5Indeed, like wild donkeys in the desert, They go out to their work, searching for food. The wilderness yields food for them and for their children. 6They gather their fodder in the field And glean in the vineyard of the wicked.

4Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge, Who eat up my people as they eat bread, And do not call on the LORD?

26"For among My people are found wicked men; They lie in wait as one who sets snares; They set a trap; They catch men. 27As a cage is full of birds, So their houses are full of deceit. Therefore they have become great and grown rich. 28They have grown fat, they are sleek; Yes, they surpass the deeds of the wicked; They do not plead the cause, The cause of the fatherless; Yet they prosper, And the right of the needy they do not defend.

25The conspiracy of her prophets in her midst is like a roaring lion tearing the prey; they have devoured people; they have taken treasure and precious things; they have made many widows in her midst. 26Her priests have violated My law and profaned My holy things; they have not distinguished between the holy and unholy, nor have they made known the difference between the unclean and the clean; and they have hidden their eyes from My Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them. 27Her princes in her midst are like wolves tearing the prey, to shed blood, to destroy people, and to get dishonest gain. 28Her prophets plastered them with untempered mortar, seeing false visions, and divining lies for them, saying, "Thus says the Lord GOD,' when the LORD had not spoken. 29The people of the land have used oppressions, committed robbery, and mistreated the poor and needy; and they wrongfully oppress the stranger.

4Hear this, you who swallow up the needy, And make the poor of the land fail, 5Saying: "When will the New Moon be past, That we may sell grain? And the Sabbath, That we may trade wheat? Making the ephah small and the shekel large, Falsifying the scales by deceit, 6That we may buy the poor for silver, And the needy for a pair of sandals--Even sell the bad wheat?"

5Thus says the LORD concerning the prophets Who make my people stray; Who chant "Peace" While they chew with their teeth, But who prepare war against him Who puts nothing into their mouths:

12For her rich men are full of violence, Her inhabitants have spoken lies, And their tongue is deceitful in their mouth.

3Her princes in her midst are roaring lions; Her judges are evening wolves That leave not a bone till morning.

4Indeed the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out; and the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. 5You have lived on the earth in pleasure and luxury; you have fattened your hearts as in a day of slaughter.