When the wicked man dies, his hope perishes, and the hope of his strength vanishes.
Parallel translations
- WEB When a wicked man dies, hope perishes, and expectation of power comes to nothing.
- KJV When a wicked man dieth, his expectation shall perish: and the hope of unjust men perisheth.
- NKJV When a wicked man dies, his expectation will perish, And the hope of the unjust perishes.
- NASB When a wicked person dies, his expectation will perish, And the hope of strong people perishes.
- NLT When the wicked die, their hopes die with them, for they rely on their own feeble strength.
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
When the wicked die, all their hopes and expectations die with them. Hope built on this life alone perishes at death.
Overview
The proverb observes that the wicked man's confidence, often placed in power and earthly gain, comes to nothing at death. It exposes the emptiness of hope that has no anchor beyond the grave. By contrast, the gospel offers a living hope through Christ's resurrection, a hope that death cannot extinguish.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- Prov 10:28The hope of the righteous is joy, but the expectations of the wicked will perish.
- Job 8:13–14Such is the destiny of all who forget God; so the hope of the godless will perish.
- Job 11:20But the eyes of the wicked will fail, and escape will elude them; they will hope for their last breath.”
- Exod 15:9–10The enemy declared, ‘I will pursue, I will overtake. I will divide the spoils; I will gorge myself on them. I will draw my sword; my hand will destroy them.’
- Ps 146:4When his spirit departs, he returns to the ground; on that very day his plans perish.
- Luke 12:19–20Then I will say to myself, “You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take it easy. Eat, drink, and be merry!”’
- Prov 14:32The wicked man is thrown down by his own sin, but the righteous man has a refuge even in death.
- Ezek 28:9Will you still say, ‘I am a god,’ in the presence of those who slay you? You will be only a man, not a god, in the hands of those who wound you.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 11:7 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.