Your kindness will reward you, but your cruelty will destroy you.
Parallel translations
- WEB The merciful man does good to his own soul, but he who is cruel troubles his own flesh.
- KJV The merciful man doeth good to his own soul: but he that is cruel troubleth his own flesh.
- BSB A kind man benefits himself, but a cruel man brings trouble on himself.
- NKJV The merciful man does good for his own soul, But he who is cruel troubles his own flesh.
- NASB A merciful person does himself good, But the cruel person does himself harm.
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
Kindness benefits the one who shows it, while cruelty harms the one who practices it. How we treat others rebounds on our own well-being.
Overview
The proverb observes that mercy enriches the merciful person's own soul, while cruelty wounds the cruel person himself. Our treatment of others shapes our inner life and welfare. This anticipates the gospel principle that mercy received and given is blessed, and that those who show mercy will obtain mercy.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 17
- Matt 5:7Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.
- Matt 25:34–40Then the King will tell those on his right hand, ‘Come, blessed of my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world;
- Jas 2:13For judgment is without mercy to him who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.
- 2 Cor 9:6–14Remember this: he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly. He who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.
- Phil 4:17Not that I seek for the gift, but I seek for the fruit that increases to your account.
- Matt 6:14–15“For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.
- Ps 41:1–4For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David. Blessed is he who considers the poor. Yahweh will deliver him in the day of evil.
- Dan 4:27Therefore, O king, let my counsel be acceptable to you, and break off your sins by righteousness, and your iniquities by showing mercy to the poor; if there may be a lengthening of your tranquility.
- Jas 5:1–5Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming on you.
- Isa 57:1The righteous perish, and no one lays it to heart. Merciful men are taken away, and no one considers that the righteous is taken away from the evil.
- Prov 15:27He who is greedy for gain troubles his own house, but he who hates bribes will live.
- Eccl 4:8There is one who is alone, and he has neither son nor brother. There is no end to all of his labor, neither are his eyes satisfied with wealth. “For whom then, do I labor, and deprive my soul of enjoyment?” This also is vanity. Yes, it is a miserable business.
- Luke 6:38“Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over, will be given to you. For with the same measure you measure it will be measured back to you.”
- Ps 112:4–9Light dawns in the darkness for the upright, gracious, merciful, and righteous.
- Isa 58:7–12Isn’t it to distribute your bread to the hungry, and that you bring the poor who are cast out to your house? When you see the naked, that you cover him; and that you not hide yourself from your own flesh?
- Isa 32:7–8The ways of the scoundrel are evil. He devises wicked devices to destroy the humble with lying words, even when the needy speaks right.
- Job 20:19–23For he has oppressed and forsaken the poor. He has violently taken away a house, and he shall not build it up.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 11:17 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.