Proverbs 4:16

Modern

For they cannot sleep unless they do evil; they are deprived of slumber until they make someone fall.

Traditional

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

Literal

For they cannot sleep if they have not done evil; and their sleep is stolen if they do not they cause stumbling.

Latin

Non enim dormiunt nisi malefecerint, et rapitur somnus ab eis nisi supplantaverint.

Hebrew

English

For they cannot sleep unless they do evil; they are deprived of slumber until they make someone fall.

The wicked stay up at night to plan evil deeds (Psalm 36:4; Micah 2:1).

The father offers his children two choices:

Psalm 36:4
Even on his bed he plots wickedness; he sets himself on a path that is not good; he fails to reject evil.
Micah 2:1
Woe to those who devise iniquity and plot evil on their beds! At morning’s light they accomplish it because the power is in their hands.
Isaiah 57:20
But the wicked are like the storm-tossed sea, for it cannot be still, and its waves churn up mire and muck.
2 Peter 2:14
Their eyes are full of adultery; their desire for sin is never satisfied; they seduce the unstable. They are accursed children with hearts trained in greed.
Proverbs 1:16
For their feet run to evil, and they are swift to shed blood.
Luke 22:66
At daybreak the council of the elders of the people, both the chief priests and scribes, met together. They led Jesus into their Sanhedrin and said,
John 18:28
Then they led Jesus away from Caiaphas into the Praetorium. By now it was early morning, and the Jews did not enter the Praetorium, to avoid being defiled and unable to eat the Passover.