It is joy to the just to do judgment: but destruction shall be to the workers of iniquity.
Parallel translations
- WEB It is joy to the righteous to do justice; but it is a destruction to the workers of iniquity.
- BSB Justice executed is a joy to the righteous, but a terror to the workers of iniquity.
- ESV When justice is done, it is a joy to the righteous but terror to evildoers.
- NKJV It is a joy for the just to do justice, But destruction will come to the workers of iniquity.
- NASB The exercise of justice is joy for the righteous, But terror to those who practice injustice.
- NLT Justice is a joy to the godly, but it terrifies evildoers.
Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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
Justice brings joy to the righteous but terror to evildoers. It matters because how one responds to justice reveals the heart.
Overview
The righteous delight to see justice done, while the wicked dread it as their destruction (Proverbs 10:29; 21:12). One's reaction to God's justice exposes whether one loves or rejects righteousness. For believers, the coming of God's perfect justice in Christ is cause for joy, not fear.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 15
- Prov 10:29The way of the LORD is strength to the upright: but destruction shall be to the workers of iniquity.
- Matt 7:23And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
- Eccl 3:12I know that there is no good in them, but for a man to rejoice, and to do good in his life.
- Isa 64:5Thou meetest him that rejoiceth and worketh righteousness, those that remember thee in thy ways: behold, thou art wroth; for we have sinned: in those is continuance, and we shall be saved.
- Ps 40:8I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart.
- Matt 13:41–42The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity;
- Job 29:12–17Because I delivered the poor that cried, and the fatherless, and him that had none to help him.
- Prov 5:20And why wilt thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, and embrace the bosom of a stranger?
- Prov 21:12The righteous man wisely considereth the house of the wicked: but God overthroweth the wicked for their wickedness.
- Ps 112:1Praise ye the LORD. Blessed is the man that feareth the LORD, that delighteth greatly in his commandments.
- Ps 119:16I will delight myself in thy statutes: I will not forget thy word.
- Luke 13:27–28But he shall say, I tell you, I know you not whence ye are; depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity.
- John 4:34Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.
- Rom 7:22For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
- Ps 119:92Unless thy law had been my delights, I should then have perished in mine affliction.
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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 21:15 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
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