Riches profit not in the day of wrath: but righteousness delivereth from death.
Parallel translations
- WEB Riches don’t profit in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death.
- BSB Riches are worthless in the day of wrath, but righteousness brings deliverance from death.
- NKJV Riches do not profit in the day of wrath, But righteousness delivers from death.
- NASB Riches do not benefit on the day of wrath, But righteousness rescues from death.
- NLT Riches won’t help on the day of judgment, but right living can save you from death.
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
Wealth is useless on the day of judgment, but righteousness rescues from death. No amount of money can buy safety from God's wrath.
Overview
The 'day of wrath' points to God's judgment, when riches lose all value and only righteousness avails. The proverb relativizes earthly security and exalts a right standing with God. Ultimately such saving righteousness is found in Christ, whose righteousness alone delivers us from death and condemnation.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Zeph 1:18Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD’s wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.
- Prov 10:2Treasures of wickedness profit nothing: but righteousness delivereth from death.
- Gen 7:1And the LORD said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation.
- Ezek 7:19They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be removed: their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the LORD: they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels: because it is the stumblingblock of their iniquity.
- 1 Tim 4:8For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.
- Ps 49:6–8They that trust in their wealth, and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches;
- Matt 16:26For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?
- Luke 12:20But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?
- Job 36:18–19Because there is wrath, beware lest he take thee away with his stroke: then a great ransom cannot deliver thee.
- Prov 12:28In the way of righteousness is life: and in the pathway thereof there is no death.
- Rom 5:17For if by one man’s offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.)
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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 11:4 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.