The curse of the LORD is on the house of the wicked, but He blesses the home of the righteous.
Parallel translations
- WEB Yahweh’s curse is in the house of the wicked, but he blesses the habitation of the righteous.
- KJV The curse of the LORD is in the house of the wicked: but he blesseth the habitation of the just.
- NKJV The curse of the Lord is on the house of the wicked, But He blesses the home of the just.
- NASB The curse of the Lord is on the house of the wicked, But He blesses the home of the righteous.
- NLT The Lord curses the house of the wicked, but he blesses the home of the upright.
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
The LORD's curse rests on the house of the wicked, but he blesses the home of the righteous. God himself governs the outcomes of wicked and righteous households.
Overview
Using the language of curse and blessing, the proverb declares that God's favor or judgment reaches into the daily life and households of people. These are general patterns of God's moral governance, not mechanical guarantees in every case. The righteousness ultimately blessed is found in those justified by faith in Christ, who bore the curse for us (Gal 3:13).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 15
- Ps 37:22Surely those He blesses will inherit the land, but the cursed will be destroyed.
- Lev 26:14–46If, however, you fail to obey Me and to carry out all these commandments,
- Job 8:6–7if you are pure and upright, even now He will rouse Himself on your behalf and restore your righteous estate.
- Ps 91:10no evil will befall you, no plague will approach your tent.
- Mal 2:2If you do not listen, and if you do not take it to heart to honor My name,” says the LORD of Hosts, “I will send a curse among you, and I will curse your blessings. Yes, I have already begun to curse them, because you are not taking it to heart.
- Deut 7:26And you must not bring any detestable thing into your house, or you, like it, will be set apart for destruction. You are to utterly detest and abhor it, because it is set apart for destruction.
- Prov 21:12The Righteous One considers the house of the wicked and brings the wicked to ruin.
- 2 Sam 6:11Thus the ark of the LORD remained in the house of Obed-edom the Gittite for three months, and the LORD blessed him and all his household.
- Deut 29:19–29because when such a person hears the words of this oath, he invokes a blessing on himself, saying, ‘I will have peace, even though I walk in the stubbornness of my own heart.’ This will bring disaster on the watered land as well as the dry.
- Deut 28:2–68And all these blessings will come upon you and overtake you, if you will obey the voice of the LORD your God:
- Ps 1:3He is like a tree planted by streams of water, yielding its fruit in season, whose leaf does not wither, and who prospers in all he does.
- Zech 5:3–4Then he told me, “This is the curse that is going out over the face of all the land, for according to one side of the scroll, every thief will be removed; and according to the other side, every perjurer will be removed.
- Josh 7:13Get up and consecrate the people, saying, ‘Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow, for this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: Among you, O Israel, there are things devoted to destruction. You cannot stand against your enemies until you remove them.
- Deut 11:28but a curse if you disobey the commandments of the LORD your God and turn aside from the path I command you today by following other gods, which you have not known.
- Josh 6:18But keep away from the things devoted to destruction, lest you yourself be set apart for destruction. If you take any of these, you will set apart the camp of Israel for destruction and bring disaster upon 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 3:33 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.