The violence of the wicked will destroy them, Because they refuse to do justice.
Parallel translations
- WEB The violence of the wicked will drive them away, because they refuse to do what is right.
- KJV The robbery of the wicked shall destroy them; because they refuse to do judgment.
- BSB The violence of the wicked will sweep them away because they refuse to do what is just.
- NASB The violence of the wicked will sweep them away, Because they refuse to act with justice.
- NLT The violence of the wicked sweeps them away, because they refuse to do what is just.
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 violence of the wicked sweeps them away because they refuse to do right. It matters because injustice ultimately destroys those who practice it.
Overview
The wicked's own violence becomes their undoing, dragging them to ruin because they reject justice (Psalm 7:15-16). Sin carries its own self-destructive consequences under God's moral order. The verse warns that refusing to do right is no path to security but to downfall.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Prov 21:21He who follows after righteousness and kindness finds life, righteousness, and honor.
- Mic 3:9–12Please listen to this, you heads of the house of Jacob, and rulers of the house of Israel, who abhor justice, and pervert all equity.
- Zech 5:3–4Then he said to me, “This is the curse that goes out over the surface of the whole land; for everyone who steals shall be cut off according to it on the one side; and everyone who swears falsely shall be cut off according to it on the other side.
- Ps 7:16The trouble he causes shall return to his own head. His violence shall come down on the crown of his own head.
- Eph 5:6Let no one deceive you with empty words. For because of these things, the wrath of God comes on the children of disobedience.
- Prov 22:22–23Don’t exploit the poor, because he is poor; and don’t crush the needy in court;
- Jer 7:15I will cast you out of my sight, as I have cast out all your brothers, even the whole offspring of Ephraim.
- Ezek 22:13–14“‘“Behold, therefore I have struck my hand at your dishonest gain which you have made, and at your blood which has been within you.
- Prov 1:18–19but these lay wait for their own blood. They lurk secretly for their own lives.
- Isa 1:23–24Your princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves. Everyone loves bribes, and follows after rewards. They don’t judge the fatherless, neither does the cause of the widow come to them.
- Ezek 18:18As for his father, because he cruelly oppressed, robbed his brother, and did that which is not good among his people, behold, he shall die in his iniquity.
- Ps 9:16Yahweh has made himself known. He has executed judgment. The wicked is snared by the work of his own hands. Meditation. Selah.
- Prov 10:6Blessings are on the head of the righteous, but violence covers the mouth of the wicked.
- Jer 7:9–11Will you steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense to Baal, and walk after other gods that you have not known,
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 21:7 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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