For they sleep not, except they have done mischief; and their sleep is taken away, unless they cause some to fall .
Proverbs is a collection of wisdom writings attributed largely to King Solomon of ancient Israel, designed to teach people how to navigate life well. This verse describes people who have become so consumed by harmful and destructive behavior that it has overtaken their inner life — they literally cannot rest until they have caused harm to someone. It is a portrait of how evil can take hold and grow until it drives a person from the inside out. The writer is warning readers about where small, habitual choices can eventually lead if left unchecked.
Lord, I don't want to be someone whose rest depends on another person's pain. Show me where I've been practicing cruelty in small ways — with my words, my choices, my indifference. Reshape my appetites so I hunger for what is good and true. Amen.
Think about what keeps you up at night. For most of us, it is worry, anxiety, regret, or a restless mental list of things undone. But this verse describes a different kind of insomnia — one driven not by fear but by appetite. The person here has cultivated a hunger for causing harm until it became compulsive. What started as a choice became a craving. That is the chilling part: this verse is not describing monsters. It is describing what any of us could become if we feed the wrong hungers long enough. There is something worth sitting with honestly here: your habits are forming you, even when you are not paying attention. Every small cruelty, every gossip session, every choice to tear down instead of build up — these are not isolated moments. They are practice. They are shaping the kind of person who either sleeps in peace or cannot rest until someone else is hurting. What are you practicing today? And what kind of person will that practice produce in you a year from now?
What does this verse suggest about the relationship between our desires and our actions over time — and how does a desire eventually become a compulsion?
Can you think of a pattern or habit in your own life that grew stronger the more you fed it, for good or for ill? What did that teach you about how character forms?
Is it possible for someone to become so shaped by harmful patterns that their capacity to choose differently is genuinely diminished? What does that mean for how we think about personal responsibility and grace?
How does recognizing this 'hunger for harm' pattern in yourself change the way you respond to people who seem to enjoy causing pain to others?
What is one habit or appetite you are currently feeding that you want to starve instead — and what is one concrete step you will take this week to begin?
For the wicked cannot sleep unless they do evil; And they are deprived of sleep unless they make someone stumble and fall.
AMP
For they cannot sleep unless they have done wrong; they are robbed of sleep unless they have made someone stumble.
ESV
For they cannot sleep unless they do evil; And they are robbed of sleep unless they make [someone] stumble.
NASB
For they cannot sleep till they do evil; they are robbed of slumber till they make someone fall.
NIV
For they do not sleep unless they have done evil; And their sleep is taken away unless they make someone fall.
NKJV
For evil people can’t sleep until they’ve done their evil deed for the day. They can’t rest until they’ve caused someone to stumble.
NLT
Evil people are restless unless they're making trouble; They can't get a good night's sleep unless they've made life miserable for somebody.
MSG