He that soweth iniquity shall reap vanity: and the rod of his anger shall fail.
Parallel translations
- WEB He who sows wickedness reaps trouble, and the rod of his fury will be destroyed.
- BSB He who sows injustice will reap disaster, and the rod of his fury will be destroyed.
- NKJV He who sows iniquity will reap sorrow, And the rod of his anger will fail.
- NASB One who sows injustice will reap disaster, And the rod of his fury will perish.
- NLT Those who plant injustice will harvest disaster, and their reign of terror will come to an end.
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
Whoever sows injustice reaps calamity, and his angry power will fail. It matters because evil and oppression bring their own downfall.
Overview
The principle of sowing and reaping applies to wickedness — injustice yields trouble, and the oppressor's furious might collapses (Galatians 6:7-8; Job 4:8). God's moral order ensures that evil rebounds on the evildoer. The verse warns against injustice and assures that oppression will not finally prevail.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Gal 6:7–8Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
- Job 4:8Even as I have seen, they that plow iniquity, and sow wickedness, reap the same.
- Ps 125:3For the rod of the wicked shall not rest upon the lot of the righteous; lest the righteous put forth their hands unto iniquity.
- Isa 30:31For through the voice of the LORD shall the Assyrian be beaten down, which smote with a rod.
- Hos 10:13Ye have plowed wickedness, ye have reaped iniquity; ye have eaten the fruit of lies: because thou didst trust in thy way, in the multitude of thy mighty men.
- Prov 14:3In the mouth of the foolish is a rod of pride: but the lips of the wise shall preserve them.
- Isa 10:5O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation.
- Isa 9:4For thou hast broken the yoke of his burden, and the staff of his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, as in the day of Midian.
- Isa 14:29Rejoice not thou, whole Palestina, because the rod of him that smote thee is broken: for out of the serpent’s root shall come forth a cockatrice, and his fruit shall be a fiery flying serpent.
- Hos 8:7For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind: it hath no stalk: the bud shall yield no meal: if so be it yield, the strangers shall swallow it up.
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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 22:8 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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