Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth, and let not thine heart be glad when he stumbleth:
Parallel translations
- WEB Don’t rejoice when your enemy falls. Don’t let your heart be glad when he is overthrown;
- BSB Do not gloat when your enemy falls, and do not let your heart rejoice when he stumbles,
- 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 thou shouldest not have looked on the day of thy brother in the day that he became a stranger; neither shouldest thou have rejoiced over the children of Judah in the day of their destruction; neither shouldest thou have spoken proudly in the day of distress.
- Job 31:29If I rejoiced at the destruction of him that hated me, or lifted up myself when evil found him:
- 1 Cor 13:6–7Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;
- Prov 17:5Whoso mocketh the poor reproacheth his Maker: and he that is glad at calamities shall not be unpunished.
- 2 Sam 16:5–14And when king David came to Bahurim, behold, thence came out a man of the family of the house of Saul, whose name was Shimei, the son of Gera: he came forth, and cursed still as he came.
- Ps 42:10As with a sword in my bones, mine enemies reproach me; while they say daily unto me, Where is thy God?
- Ps 35:15But in mine adversity they rejoiced, and gathered themselves together: yea, the abjects gathered themselves together against me, and I knew it not; they did tear me, and ceased not:
- Ps 35:19Let not them that are mine enemies wrongfully rejoice over me: neither let them wink with the eye that hate me without a cause.
- Judg 16:25And it came to pass, when their hearts were merry, that they said, Call for Samson, that he may make us sport. And they called for Samson out of the prison house; and he made them sport: and they set 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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