Behold, the righteous shall be recompensed in the earth: much more the wicked and the sinner.
Parallel translations
- WEB Behold, the righteous shall be repaid in the earth; how much more the wicked and the sinner!
- BSB If the righteous receive their due on earth, how much more the ungodly and the sinner!
- NKJV If the righteous will be recompensed on the earth, How much more the ungodly and the sinner.
- NASB If the righteous will be repaid on the earth, How much more the wicked and the sinner!
- NLT If the righteous are rewarded here on earth, what will happen to wicked sinners?
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
If even the righteous are repaid on earth, how much more the wicked and the sinner. God's dealings with His own people warn of surer judgment on the ungodly.
Overview
The proverb reasons from the lesser to the greater: if the righteous experience God's discipline and reward in this life, the wicked will certainly not escape. It sobers any presumption that evil will go unanswered. The New Testament cites this verse to urge perseverance, reminding believers of the gravity of final judgment.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- 1 Pet 4:17–18For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?
- Jer 25:29For, lo, I begin to bring evil on the city which is called by my name, and should ye be utterly unpunished? Ye shall not be unpunished: for I will call for a sword upon all the inhabitants of the earth, saith the LORD of hosts.
- 1 Cor 11:30–32For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.
- Prov 13:21Evil pursueth sinners: but to the righteous good shall be repayed.
- 2 Sam 12:9–12Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the LORD, to do evil in his sight? thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and hast taken his wife to be thy wife, and hast slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon.
- 2 Sam 7:14–15I will be his father, and he shall be my son. If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men:
- 1 Kgs 13:24And when he was gone, a lion met him by the way, and slew him: and his carcase was cast in the way, and the ass stood by it, the lion also stood by the carcase.
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 11:31 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.