The wicked worketh a deceitful work: but to him that soweth righteousness shall be a sure reward.
Parallel translations
- WEB Wicked people earn deceitful wages, but one who sows righteousness reaps a sure reward.
- BSB The wicked man earns an empty wage, but he who sows righteousness reaps a true reward.
- NKJV The wicked man does deceptive work, But he who sows righteousness will have a sure reward.
- NASB A wicked person earns deceptive wages, But one who sows righteousness gets a true reward.
- NLT Evil people get rich for the moment, but the reward of the godly will last.
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
Wicked work brings deceptive, fleeting pay, but sowing righteousness yields a sure reward. Righteous living produces lasting fruit that evil cannot.
Overview
Using the imagery of wages and sowing, this proverb contrasts the illusory earnings of the wicked with the dependable harvest of those who sow righteousness. It teaches that godliness yields a reward as certain as planted seed. The New Testament takes up this image, promising that those who sow to the Spirit will reap eternal life.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Gal 6:8–9For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.
- Eccl 10:8He that diggeth a pit shall fall into it; and whoso breaketh an hedge, a serpent shall bite him.
- Hos 10:12–13Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the LORD, till he come and rain righteousness upon you.
- Jas 3:18And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace.
- Ps 126:5–6They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.
- Prov 22:8He that soweth iniquity shall reap vanity: and the rod of his anger shall fail.
- Prov 1:18And they lay wait for their own blood; they lurk privily for their own lives.
- Prov 5:22His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins.
- Isa 59:5–8They hatch cockatrice’ eggs, and weave the spider’s web: he that eateth of their eggs dieth, and that which is crushed breaketh out into a viper.
- Job 27:13–23This is the portion of a wicked man with God, and the heritage of oppressors, which they shall receive of the Almighty.
- Eph 4:22That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;
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 11:18 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.