Don’t rejoice when your enemies fall; don’t be happy when they stumble.
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:
- 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,
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 don’t look down on your brother in the day of his disaster, and don’t rejoice over the children of Judah in the day of their destruction. Don’t speak proudly in the day of distress.
- Job 31:29“If I have rejoiced at the destruction of him who hated me, or lifted up myself when evil found him
- 1 Cor 13:6–7doesn’t rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth;
- Prov 17:5Whoever mocks the poor reproaches his Maker. He who is glad at calamity shall not be unpunished.
- 2 Sam 16:5–14When king David came to Bahurim, behold, a man of the family of Saul’s house came out, whose name was Shimei, the son of Gera. He came out and cursed as he came.
- Ps 42:10As with a sword in my bones, my adversaries reproach me, while they continually ask me, “Where is your God?”
- Ps 35:15But in my adversity, they rejoiced, and gathered themselves together. The attackers gathered themselves together against me, and I didn’t know it. They tore at me, and didn’t cease.
- Ps 35:19Don’t let those who are my enemies wrongfully rejoice over me; neither let those who hate me without a cause wink their eyes.
- Judg 16:25When their hearts were merry, they said, “Call for Samson, that he may entertain us.” They called for Samson out of the prison; and he performed before them. 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
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.