The way of the LORD is strength to the upright: but destruction shall be to the workers of iniquity.
Parallel translations
- WEB The way of Yahweh is a stronghold to the upright, but it is a destruction to the workers of iniquity.
- BSB The way of the LORD is a refuge to the upright, but destruction awaits those who do evil.
- NKJV The way of the Lord is strength for the upright, But destruction will come to the workers of iniquity.
- NASB The way of the Lord is a stronghold for the upright, But ruin to the workers of injustice.
- NLT The way of the Lord is a stronghold to those with integrity, but it destroys the wicked.
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
God's way is a refuge for the upright but ruin for evildoers. The same path of the Lord protects the righteous and destroys the wicked.
Overview
The 'way of Yahweh'-His governing order and revealed will-functions as a fortress to those who walk in it but as judgment to those who oppose it. The verse shows that one's relationship to God determines whether His ways are safety or peril. The gospel echoes this: Christ is a cornerstone of salvation to believers but a stone of stumbling to those who reject Him.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Prov 21:15It is joy to the just to do judgment: but destruction shall be to the workers of iniquity.
- Rom 2:8–9But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath,
- Phil 4:13I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.
- Isa 40:31But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.
- Zech 10:12And I will strengthen them in the LORD; and they shall walk up and down in his name, saith the LORD.
- Ps 92:7When the wicked spring as the grass, and when all the workers of iniquity do flourish; it is that they shall be destroyed for ever:
- Ps 84:7They go from strength to strength, every one of them in Zion appeareth before God.
- Ps 37:20But the wicked shall perish, and the enemies of the LORD shall be as the fat of lambs: they shall consume; into smoke shall they consume away.
- Ps 36:12There are the workers of iniquity fallen: they are cast down, and shall not be able to rise.
- Luke 13:26–27Then shall ye begin to say, We have eaten and drunk in thy presence, and thou hast taught in our streets.
- Ps 1:6For the LORD knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish.
- Job 31:3Is not destruction to the wicked? and a strange punishment to the workers of iniquity?
- Matt 7:22–23Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
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 10:29 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.