I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh;
Parallel translations
- WEB I also will laugh at your disaster. I will mock when calamity overtakes you;
- BSB in turn I will mock your calamity; I will sneer when terror strikes you,
- ESV I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when terror strikes you,
- 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 quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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 37:13The LORD shall laugh at him: for he seeth that his day is coming.
- Ps 2:4He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the LORD shall have them in derision.
- Prov 10:24The fear of the wicked, it shall come upon him: but the desire of the righteous shall be granted.
- Prov 6:15Therefore shall his calamity come suddenly; suddenly shall he be broken without remedy.
- Luke 14:24For I say unto you, That none of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper.
- Judg 10:14Go and cry unto the gods which ye have chosen; let them deliver you in the time of your tribulation.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
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.