Do not gloat when your enemy falls, and do not let your heart rejoice when he stumbles,
Parallel translations
- WEB Don’t rejoice when your enemy falls. Don’t let your heart be glad when he is overthrown;
- KJV Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth, and let not thine heart be glad when he stumbleth:
- NKJV Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, And do not let your heart be glad when he stumbles;
- NASB ¶Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, And do not let your heart rejoice when he stumbles,
- NLT Don’t rejoice when your enemies fall; don’t be happy when they stumble.
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
Do not gloat when your enemy falls or stumbles.
Overview
Wisdom forbids rejoicing over an enemy's downfall, restraining the natural impulse toward vengeful satisfaction. The heart, not just the outward act, is to be free of malicious gladness. This anticipates Jesus' command to love our enemies and Paul's call to bless rather than curse them (Matt. 5:44; Rom. 12:14, 20).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Obad 1:12But you should not gloat in that day, your brother’s day of misfortune, nor rejoice over the people of Judah in the day of their destruction, nor boast proudly in the day of their distress.
- Job 31:29If I have rejoiced in my enemy’s ruin, or exulted when evil befell him—
- 1 Cor 13:6–7Love takes no pleasure in evil, but rejoices in the truth.
- Prov 17:5He who mocks the poor insults their Maker; whoever gloats over calamity will not go unpunished.
- 2 Sam 16:5–14As King David approached Bahurim, a man from the family of the house of Saul was just coming out. His name was Shimei son of Gera, and as he approached, he kept yelling out curses.
- Ps 42:10Like the crushing of my bones, my enemies taunt me, while they say to me all day long, “Where is your God?”
- Ps 35:15But when I stumbled, they assembled in glee; they gathered together against me. Assailants I did not know slandered me without ceasing.
- Ps 35:19Let not my enemies gloat over me without cause, nor those who hate me without reason wink in malice.
- Judg 16:25And while their hearts were merry, they said, “Call for Samson to entertain us.” So they called Samson out of the prison to entertain them. And they stationed him between the pillars.
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 24:17 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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