Proverbs 4:17:3Prov.4.17.W3TAB
לֶ֣חֶם
lekhem
“bread”
- Transliteration
- LE-khem
- Extended
- LEH-khehm
- IPA
- /ˈlɛħɛm/
Meaning by language
- English
- bread
Hebrew · tap a syllable to hear it
Alphabet Analysis
| Lamed | l as in law | |
| Seghol | short 'eh' as in met | |
| Chet | ch — deep guttural, as in Scottish loch | |
| Seghol | short 'eh' as in met | |
| Mem Sofit | final form of Mem — at word end |
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The word
Word in context
- word
LE-khem
- clause
KI la-KHA-mu LE-khem RE-sha
- sentence
KI la-KHA-mu LE-khem RE-sha ve-YEN kha-ma-SIM yish-TU
Exegesis
Each verb governs a construct chain—leḥem rešaʿ {לֶחֶם רֶשַׁע | le-ḥem re-šaʿ} ‘bread of wickedness’ and wəyeîn ḥămasîm {וְיֵין חֲמָסִים | wə-yê-în ḥă-mā-śîm} ‘and wine of violent deeds’—personifying sin as sustenance and intoxication. The parallelism and construct phrases intensify the moral indictment by depicting wickedness and violence as nourishment and drink.
Root and etymology
l-ḥ-mlamed–ḥet–mem
“to consume, to fight”
In context — Proverbs 4:17
For they eat the bread of wickedness , and drink the wine of violence .
About this coordinate
Proverbs 4:17:3 is a BCV:P reference — Book · Chapter · Verse · Word Position. It addresses word 3 of Proverbs 4:17, so the Hebrew word לֶ֣חֶם (lekhem) can be cited, linked and studied at exactly this position rather than somewhere in the verse. In the Biblical Knowledge Coordinate System the same position is written Prov.4.17.W3, which extends further down to each syllable (Prov.4.17.W3.S1) and character.