If anyone returns evil for good, evil will never leave his house.
Parallel translations
- WEB Whoever rewards evil for good, evil shall not depart from his house.
- KJV Whoso rewardeth evil for good, evil shall not depart from his house.
- NKJV Whoever rewards evil for good, Evil will not depart from his house.
- NASB One who returns evil for good, Evil will not depart from his house.
- NLT If you repay good with evil, evil will never leave your house.
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
Repaying good with evil brings lasting trouble on one's own household. It matters because ingratitude and treachery sow enduring consequences.
Overview
This proverb warns that returning evil for good will keep evil ever present in one's house. Betraying kindness is a grave wrong that recoils upon the offender. The principle stands in sharp contrast to the gospel, where God repays our evil with good in Christ (Romans 5:8-10).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Ps 109:4–13In return for my love they accuse me, but I am a man of prayer.
- 1 Pet 3:9Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.
- Rom 12:17Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Carefully consider what is right in the eyes of everybody.
- Ps 55:12–15For it is not an enemy who insults me; that I could endure. It is not a foe who rises against me; from him I could hide.
- Ps 38:20Those who repay my good with evil attack me for pursuing the good.
- Ps 35:12They repay me evil for good, to the bereavement of my soul.
- 2 Sam 12:10Now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house, because you have despised Me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own.’
- 1 Th 5:15Make sure that no one repays evil for evil. Always pursue what is good for one another and for all people.
- Matt 27:5So Judas threw the silver into the temple and left. Then he went away and hanged himself.
- 1 Sam 24:17and said to David, “You are more righteous than I, for you have rewarded me with good, though I have rewarded you with evil.
- Jer 18:20–21Should good be repaid with evil? Yet they have dug a pit for me. Remember how I stood before You to speak good on their behalf, to turn Your wrath from them.
- 1 Sam 31:2–3The Philistines followed hard after Saul and his sons, and they killed Saul’s sons Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malchishua.
- 2 Sam 21:1–14During the reign of David there was a famine for three successive years, and David sought the face of the LORD. And the LORD said, “It is because of the blood shed by Saul and his family, because he killed the Gibeonites.”
- Matt 27:25All the people answered, “His blood be on us and on our children!”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
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 17:13 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.