Trouble chases sinners, while blessings reward the righteous.
Parallel translations
- WEB Misfortune pursues sinners, but prosperity rewards the righteous.
- KJV Evil pursueth sinners: but to the righteous good shall be repayed.
- BSB Disaster pursues sinners, but prosperity is the reward of the righteous.
- NKJV Evil pursues sinners, But to the righteous, good shall be repaid.
- NASB Adversity pursues sinners, But the righteous will be rewarded with prosperity.
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
Disaster dogs sinners, but good comes to the righteous. God's moral order generally rewards righteousness.
Overview
Personifying misfortune as a pursuer of sinners and prosperity as a reward for the righteous, the proverb affirms the broad pattern of divine justice. It speaks of general tendencies under God's governance rather than absolute, immediate outcomes in every case. The fullest 'good' awaits the righteous in Christ, whose final reward is sure (Romans 8:28).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- Ps 32:10Many sorrows come to the wicked, but loving kindness shall surround him who trusts in Yahweh.
- Isa 3:10–11Tell the righteous “Good!” For they shall eat the fruit of their deeds.
- Prov 13:13Whoever despises instruction will pay for it, but he who respects a command will be rewarded.
- Rom 2:7–10to those who by perseverance in well-doing seek for glory, honor, and incorruptibility, eternal life;
- Gen 4:7If you do well, won’t it be lifted up? If you don’t do well, sin crouches at the door. Its desire is for you, but you are to rule over it.”
- Ps 140:11An evil speaker won’t be established in the earth. Evil will hunt the violent man to overthrow him.
- Num 32:23“But if you will not do so, behold, you have sinned against Yahweh; and be sure your sin will find you out.
- Acts 28:4When the natives saw the creature hanging from his hand, they said to one another, “No doubt this man is a murderer, whom, though he has escaped from the sea, yet Justice has not allowed to live.”
Resources, by level
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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 13:21 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.