When the wicked cometh, then cometh also contempt, and with ignominy reproach.
Parallel translations
- WEB When wickedness comes, contempt also comes, and with shame comes disgrace.
- BSB With a wicked man comes contempt as well, and shame is accompanied by disgrace.
- NKJV When the wicked comes, contempt comes also; And with dishonor comes reproach.
- NASB When a wicked person comes, contempt also comes, And with dishonor comes taunting.
- NLT Doing wrong leads to disgrace, and scandalous behavior brings contempt.
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
Wickedness brings contempt, shame, and disgrace in its train. Sin carries with it a cluster of dishonor.
Overview
This proverb links wickedness with the scorn, shame, and reproach that inevitably accompany it, showing that sin degrades both the sinner and the social fabric. Wrongdoing does not occur in isolation but drags disgrace along with it. The gospel reverses this trajectory, for Christ bore our shame on the cross (Heb. 12:2) so that the guilty might be clothed instead with honor and acceptance before God.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- 1 Pet 4:14If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified.
- Prov 22:10Cast out the scorner, and contention shall go out; yea, strife and reproach shall cease.
- 1 Pet 4:4Wherein they think it strange that ye run not with them to the same excess of riot, speaking evil of you:
- Prov 11:2When pride cometh, then cometh shame: but with the lowly is wisdom.
- Prov 29:16When the wicked are multiplied, transgression increaseth: but the righteous shall see their fall.
- Ps 69:20Reproach hath broken my heart; and I am full of heaviness: and I looked for some to take pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none.
- Neh 4:4Hear, O our God; for we are despised: and turn their reproach upon their own head, and give them for a prey in the land of captivity:
- 1 Sam 20:30Then Saul’s anger was kindled against Jonathan, and he said unto him, Thou son of the perverse rebellious woman, do not I know that thou hast chosen the son of Jesse to thine own confusion, and unto the confusion of thy mother’s nakedness?
- Ps 69:9For the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up; and the reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me.
- Ps 123:3–4Have mercy upon us, O LORD, have mercy upon us: for we are exceedingly filled with contempt.
- Matt 27:39–44And they that passed by reviled him, wagging their heads,
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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 18:3 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.