What Does Proverbs 20:17 Mean in the King James?

Bread of deceit is sweet to a man; but afterwards his mouth shall be filled with gravel.

Proverbs 20:17 · KJV

The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

THE KEY

Falsehood can taste like bread at first, then turn the mouth that received it into a container for gravel.

THE MEANING

The verse speaks now: what seems nourishing while founded on falsehood can satisfy briefly, then leave the mouth occupied by what is harsh and useless. The same place that tastes the sweetness bears the grit of its aftermath.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

A pleasant first taste does not prove that what I am taking in is good nourishment.

THE ROOT

שָׁקֶר

sheqer

GROWS FROM

שקר

Falsehood; acting falsely or dealing deceitfully.

The Hebrew word translated “deceit” names falsehood itself, while its verbal branch names the act of lying. The bread is falsehood made consumable: it seems to nourish, but the mouth ends up filled with grit.

ALSO GROWS

sheqer: Falsehood, a lie.

שֶׁקֶר

This is the noun used for the bread’s deceit; the apparent food is itself falsehood.

shaqar: To lie, act falsely, or deal deceitfully.

שָׁקַר

The verb shows deceit as an action: what is taken in as sweetness carries a falsehood whose consequence appears afterward.

THE PATTERN

A falsehood’s first sweetness can conceal an aftermath that exposes what it was feeding.

But he knoweth not that the dead are there; and that her guests are in the depths of hell.

Proverbs 9:18 · KJVThe hidden ending is already inside the feast that seemed sweet in the preceding verse.

Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season;

Hebrews 11:25 · KJVThe pleasure is temporary, so its initial sweetness cannot tell the whole story.

What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death.

Romans 6:21 · KJVThe aftermath reveals the fruit of what once seemed desirable.

THE THREAD

Lying lips are abomination to the LORD: but they that deal truly are his delight.

Proverbs 12:22 · KJV

“Lying” here uses the same Hebrew word ⁨שֶׁקֶר⁩ (sheqer, falsehood) found in “bread of deceit.” The falsehood that seems sweet in Proverbs 20:17 is named here at the mouth as lying speech, connecting what is taken in with what comes out.

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