The labour of the righteous tendeth to life: the fruit of the wicked to sin.
Parallel translations
- WEB The labor of the righteous leads to life. The increase of the wicked leads to sin.
- BSB The labor of the righteous leads to life, but the gain of the wicked brings punishment.
- NKJV The labor of the righteous leads to life, The wages of the wicked to sin.
- NASB The wages of the righteous is life, The income of the wicked, punishment.
- NLT The earnings of the godly enhance their lives, but evil people squander their money on sin.
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
The wage of the righteous leads to life, but the gain of the wicked to sin. Righteous earnings bear good fruit; wicked gain leads to more evil.
Overview
The fruit of one's labor is shaped by one's character: the righteous use their gain toward life, while the wicked turn theirs toward sin. It is not wealth itself but the heart behind it that determines its outcome. This points to the deeper truth that genuine life comes from righteousness, fulfilled in Christ our righteousness (Romans 6:23).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Isa 3:10–11Say ye to the righteous, that it shall be well with him: for they shall eat the fruit of their doings.
- Rom 6:23For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
- Heb 6:10For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, which ye have shewed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister.
- John 6:27Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed.
- Prov 11:18–19The wicked worketh a deceitful work: but to him that soweth righteousness shall be a sure reward.
- 1 Cor 15:58Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.
- Matt 12:33–34Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by his fruit.
- Matt 7:17–18Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.
- Prov 11:30The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that winneth souls is wise.
- Gal 6:7–9Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
- Matt 15:19For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies:
- 2 Tim 3:13But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.
- 2 Tim 2:17–18And their word will eat as doth a canker: of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus;
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
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 10:16 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.