in turn I will mock your calamity; I will sneer when terror strikes you,
Parallel translations
- WEB I also will laugh at your disaster. I will mock when calamity overtakes you;
- KJV I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh;
- NKJV I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your terror comes,
- NASB I will also laugh at your disaster; I will mock when your dread comes,
- NLT So I will laugh when you are in trouble! I will mock you when disaster overtakes you—
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Wisdom warns she will laugh at the disaster of those who scorned her. It matters because it sobers us with the certainty of judgment for persistent rejection.
Overview
This difficult verse depicts wisdom mocking when calamity strikes the obstinate. It is not petty cruelty but the just vindication of truth long despised; those who laughed at correction face the irony of their own ruin. Faithful readers understand this as divine justice, not delight in suffering, and it warns us to heed the call while there is time.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- Ps 37:13but the Lord laughs, seeing that their day is coming.
- Ps 2:4The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord taunts them.
- Prov 10:24What the wicked man dreads will overtake him, but the desire of the righteous will be granted.
- Prov 6:15Therefore calamity will come upon him suddenly; in an instant he will be shattered beyond recovery.
- Luke 14:24For I tell you, not one of those men who were invited will taste my banquet.’”
- Judg 10:14Go and cry out to the gods you have chosen. Let them save you in your time of trouble.”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Commentaries & study tools
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Wisdom personified, with God before creation and the agent of all things, anticipates Christ 'in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom' — the wisdom of God made flesh.
How Proverbs 1:26 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.