When the righteous thrive, the people rejoice; but when the wicked rule, the people groan.
Parallel translations
- KJV When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice: but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn.
- BSB When the righteous flourish, the people rejoice, but when the wicked rule, the people groan.
- NKJV When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan.
- NASB When the righteous increase, the people rejoice, But when a wicked person rules, people groan.
- NLT When the godly are in authority, the people rejoice. But when the wicked are in power, they groan.
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
People rejoice when the righteous flourish but groan under wicked rule. It shows how the character of leaders shapes a society's joy or misery.
Overview
The proverb contrasts the rejoicing that comes when the righteous increase in influence with the groaning that follows when the wicked rule. Just governance is a blessing to the people, while corrupt power is a burden. It stirs longing for the reign of the righteous King, Christ, under whose rule the redeemed will finally rejoice (Isaiah 9:7).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Prov 28:12When the righteous triumph, there is great glory; but when the wicked rise, men hide themselves.
- Prov 11:10When it goes well with the righteous, the city rejoices. When the wicked perish, there is shouting.
- Prov 28:28When the wicked rise, men hide themselves; but when they perish, the righteous thrive.
- Esth 8:15Mordecai went out of the presence of the king in royal clothing of blue and white, and with a great crown of gold, and with a robe of fine linen and purple; and the city of Susa shouted and was glad.
- Eccl 10:5There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, the sort of error which proceeds from the ruler.
- Esth 3:15The couriers went out in haste by the king’s commandment, and the decree was given out in the citadel of Susa. The king and Haman sat down to drink; but the city of Shushan was perplexed.
- Rev 11:15The seventh angel sounded, and great voices in heaven followed, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the Kingdom of our Lord, and of his Christ. He will reign forever and ever!”
- Ps 72:1–7By Solomon. God, give the king your justice; your righteousness to the royal son.
- Jer 23:5–6“Behold, the days come,” says Yahweh, “that I will raise to David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.
- Isa 32:1–2Behold, a king shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule in justice.
- Matt 2:16Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked by the wise men, was exceedingly angry, and sent out, and killed all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all the surrounding countryside, from two years old and under, according to the exact time which he had learned from the wise men.
- Matt 2:3When King Herod heard it, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.
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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 29:2 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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