For their calamity will rise suddenly, And who knows the ruin those two can bring?
Parallel translations
- WEB for their calamity will rise suddenly; the destruction from them both — who knows?
- KJV For their calamity shall rise suddenly; and who knoweth the ruin of them both?
- BSB For they will bring sudden destruction. Who knows what ruin they can bring?
- NASB For their disaster will rise suddenly, And who knows the ruin that can come from both of them?
- NLT for disaster will hit them suddenly. Who knows what punishment will come from the Lord and the king?
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
Ruin can fall suddenly on rebels from both God and king, in ways no one foresees.
Overview
The final saying of this section warns that calamity from divine and royal judgment can strike the rebellious without warning. "Who knows?" stresses the unpredictable severity of such ruin. This sobering close calls for humble reverence rather than defiance, trusting the God who governs all authority and judges justly (Eccl. 8:2-5).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Ps 90:11Who knows the power of your anger, your wrath according to the fear that is due to you?
- 2 Chr 13:16–17The children of Israel fled before Judah, and God delivered them into their hand.
- Hos 5:11Ephraim is oppressed, he is crushed in judgment; Because he is intent in his pursuit of idols.
- 2 Sam 18:7–8The people of Israel were struck there before David’s servants, and there was a great slaughter there that day of twenty thousand men.
- Num 16:31–35As he finished speaking all these words, the ground that was under them split apart.
- 1 Sam 31:1–7Now the Philistines fought against Israel; and the men of Israel fled from before the Philistines, and fell down slain on Mount Gilboa.
- Prov 20:2The terror of a king is like the roaring of a lion. He who provokes him to anger forfeits his own life.
- Hos 13:10–11Where is your king now, that he may save you in all your cities? And your judges, of whom you said, ‘Give me a king and princes?’
- Prov 16:14The king’s wrath is a messenger of death, but a wise man will pacify it.
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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 24:22 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.