No mischief shall happen to the righteous, but the wicked shall be filled with evil.
World English Bible
Proverbs 12:21
This verse is examined in more than one Scripture Analysis section. Each lens is shown on its own terms, in the section's own words; GEBible reaches no verdict of its own.
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WEB World English Bible Public Domain ✓ - Modern English
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- MSB Majority Standard Bible A modern translation of the Majority/Byzantine text — the Berean counterpart to the critical-text BSB · Public Domain
- TCENT Text-Critical English New Testament A modern reasoned-eclectic New Testament (2022) · CC BY 4.0
- F35 Family 35 New Testament Wilbur Pickering's Byzantine-priority New Testament, with text-critical commentary notes · CC BY-SA 4.0
- OJB Orthodox Jewish Bible A Messianic-Jewish English Bible using transliterated Hebrew names and terms · CC BY 4.0
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- KJV King James Version Public Domain
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- GNV Geneva Bible (1599) The Reformation-era study Bible that preceded the King James · Public Domain
- DRA Douay-Rheims (1899) An English Catholic translation from the Latin Vulgate · Public Domain
- YLT Young's Literal Translation An extremely literal 19th-century rendering · Public Domain
- DBY Darby Bible A literal 19th-century translation by J. N. Darby · Public Domain
- WBT Webster's Bible Noah Webster's 1833 modernization of the King James Version · Public Domain
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- LEESER Isaac Leeser Tanakh (1853) The first Jewish English translation of the Hebrew Bible (1853, Old Testament only) · Public Domain
- KJVCP KJV Cambridge Paragraph Bible David Norton's critical Cambridge edition of the King James Version, set in paragraphs · Public Domain
Examined in Scripture Analysis
Contradictions (2)
Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
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Has there ever been a just person?
Ecclesiastes 7:20 flatly denies there is any just man on earth who does good and does not sin. Paul echoes this in Romans 3:10.
Critical scholarship: Leans toward reconciliation.
Theology
More on this question
The proposed answers and sources for each reading are on the question page.
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Do bad things happen to good people?
Habakkuk 1:4 and 1:13 complain that the wicked surround the righteous and devour those more righteous than themselves, and Hebrews 12:6 affirms that Yahweh chastens every son he receives. Proverbs 12:21, Proverbs 19:23, and 1 Peter 3:13 insist no evil happens to the just and ask rhetorically who could harm a follower of good.
Critical scholarship: Genuinely disputed among scholars.
Theology
More on this question
The proposed answers and sources for each reading are on the question page.
Each section sets the viewpoints side by side; you weigh the evidence. Here, "critical scholarship" means academic study, not a value judgment. How this is built →
Other verses examined for the same kind of question or claim
Within each section, grouped by shared field or question type — not a cross-section comparison.
Cite this page
This citation refers to this GEBible page — the verse and the analysis gathered here. To cite the underlying scholarship, cite those sources directly.
"Proverbs 12:21 — Scripture Analysis" GEBible, https://gebible.app/analysis/verse/proverbs/12/21?version=WEB (retrieved 27 August 2026).