The righteous will never be shaken, but the wicked will not inhabit the land.
Parallel translations
- WEB The righteous will never be removed, but the wicked will not dwell in the land.
- KJV The righteous shall never be removed: but the wicked shall not inhabit the earth.
- ESV The righteous will never be removed, but the wicked will not dwell in the land.
- NKJV The righteous will never be removed, But the wicked will not inhabit the earth.
- NASB The righteous will never be shaken, But the wicked will not live in the land.
- NLT The godly will never be disturbed, but the wicked will be removed from the land.
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
The righteous will remain secure, but the wicked will not endure in the land. Stability belongs to those who live rightly before God.
Overview
Drawing on covenant language about dwelling in the promised land, this proverb affirms the lasting security of the righteous and the displacement of the wicked. It speaks to God's just ordering of life, even if its full realization awaits the age to come. Jesus' promise that the meek will inherit the earth fulfills this hope of an enduring place for God's people.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Ps 37:22Surely those He blesses will inherit the land, but the cursed will be destroyed.
- Ps 125:1A song of ascents. Those who trust in the LORD are like Mount Zion. It cannot be moved; it abides forever.
- Ps 37:28–29For the LORD loves justice and will not forsake His saints. They are preserved forever, but the offspring of the wicked will be cut off.
- Ps 37:9–10For the evildoers will be cut off, but those who hope in the LORD will inherit the land.
- Prov 2:21–22For the upright will inhabit the land, and the blameless will remain in it;
- Prov 10:25When the whirlwind passes, the wicked are no more, but the righteous are secure forever.
- Ps 16:8I have set the LORD always before me. Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.
- 2 Pet 1:10–11Therefore, brothers, strive to make your calling and election sure. For if you practice these things you will never stumble,
- Rom 8:35–39Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?
- Ps 112:6Surely he will never be shaken; the righteous man will be remembered forever.
- Matt 21:41“He will bring those wretches to a wretched end,” they replied, “and will rent out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him his share of the fruit at harvest time.”
- Ps 52:5Surely God will bring you down to everlasting ruin; He will snatch you up and tear you away from your tent; He will uproot you from the land of the living. Selah
- Mic 2:9–10You drive the women of My people from their pleasant homes. You take away My blessing from their children forever.
- Ezek 33:24–26“Son of man, those living in the ruins in the land of Israel are saying, ‘Abraham was only one man, yet he possessed the land. But we are many; surely the land has been given to us as a possession.’
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
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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 10:30 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.