The light of the righteous shines brightly, but the lamp of the wicked is snuffed out.
Parallel translations
- KJV The light of the righteous rejoiceth: but the lamp of the wicked shall be put out.
- BSB The light of the righteous shines brightly, but the lamp of the wicked is extinguished.
- NKJV The light of the righteous rejoices, But the lamp of the wicked will be put out.
- NASB The light of the righteous rejoices, But the lamp of the wicked goes out.
- NLT The life of the godly is full of light and joy, but the light of the wicked will be snuffed out.
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
The righteous shine brightly with enduring life, but the wicked's lamp is extinguished. The destinies of the two ways differ utterly.
Overview
Light and lamp imagery throughout Proverbs symbolizes life, joy, and a flourishing future. The righteous person's life radiates and endures, while the wicked person's light is snuffed out, picturing a future cut off in judgment. This points to Christ, the light of the world, in whom believers walk in light rather than darkness (John 8:12).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Prov 24:20for there will be no reward to the evil man; and the lamp of the wicked shall be snuffed out.
- Prov 4:18But the path of the righteous is like the dawning light, that shines more and more until the perfect day.
- Prov 20:20Whoever curses his father or his mother, his lamp shall be put out in blackness of darkness.
- Ps 97:11Light is sown for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart.
- Ps 112:4Light dawns in the darkness for the upright, gracious, merciful, and righteous.
- Job 18:5–6“Yes, the light of the wicked shall be put out, The spark of his fire shall not shine.
- Matt 25:8The foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’
- Isa 50:10–11Who among you fears Yahweh, and obeys the voice of his servant? He who walks in darkness, and has no light, let him trust in Yahweh’s name, and rely on his God.
- 1 Kgs 11:36To his son will I give one tribe, that David my servant may have a lamp always before me in Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen me to put my name there.
- Job 21:17“How often is it that the lamp of the wicked is put out, that their calamity comes on them, that God distributes sorrows in his anger?
- Job 29:3when his lamp shone on my head, and by his light I walked through darkness,
- Matt 22:13Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, take him away, and throw him into the outer darkness; there is where the weeping and grinding of teeth will be.’
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 13:9 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.