If the righteous are rewarded here on earth, what will happen to wicked sinners?
Parallel translations
- WEB Behold, the righteous shall be repaid in the earth; how much more the wicked and the sinner!
- KJV Behold, the righteous shall be recompensed in the earth: 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!
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 has come for judgment to begin with the household of God. If it begins first with us, what will happen to those who don’t obey the Good News of God?
- Jer 25:29For, behold, I begin to work evil at the city which is called by my name; and should you be utterly unpunished? You shall not be unpunished; for I will call for a sword on all the inhabitants of the earth, says Yahweh of Armies.”’
- 1 Cor 11:30–32For this cause many among you are weak and sickly, and not a few sleep.
- Prov 13:21Misfortune pursues sinners, but prosperity rewards the righteous.
- 2 Sam 12:9–12Why have you despised Yahweh’s word, to do that which is evil in his sight? You have struck Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and have taken his wife to be your wife, and have slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon.
- 2 Sam 7:14–15I will be his father, and he will be my son. If he commits iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men;
- 1 Kgs 13:24When he had gone, a lion met him by the way and killed him. His body was thrown on the path, and the donkey stood by it. The lion also stood by the body.
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.