When a wicked man dies, hope perishes, and expectation of power comes to nothing.
Parallel Translations
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When a wicked man dies, hope perishes, and expectation of power comes to nothing.
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When a wicked man dieth, his expectation shall perish: and the hope of unjust men perisheth.
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When a wicked man dieth, his expectation shall perish, and the hope of strength perisheth.
Cross-references (8)
Passages linked to Proverbs 11:7 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Proverbs 10:28 The prospect of the righteous is joy, but the hope of the wicked will perish.
- Job 8:13-14 So are the paths of all who forget God. The hope of the godless man will perish, Whose confidence will break apart, Whose trust is a spider’s web.
- Job 11:20 But the eyes of the wicked will fail. They will have no way to flee. Their hope will be the giving up of the spirit.”
- Exodus 15:9-10 The enemy said, ‘I will pursue. I will overtake. I will divide the plunder. My desire will be satisfied on them. I will draw my sword. My hand will destroy them.’ You blew with your wind. The sea covered them. They sank like lead in the mighty waters.
- Psalms 146:4 His spirit departs, and he returns to the earth. In that very day, his thoughts perish.
- Proverbs 14:32 The wicked is brought down in his calamity, but in death, the righteous has a refuge.
- Luke 12:19-20 I will tell my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years. Take your ease, eat, drink, and be merry.” ’ “But God said to him, ‘You foolish one, tonight your soul is required of you. The things which you have prepared—whose will they be?’
- Ezekiel 28:9 Will you yet say before him who kills you, ‘I am God’? But you are man, and not God, in the hand of him who wounds you.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (16 sources)
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Pro 11:7 When a wicked man dieth, [his] expectation…
Pro 11:7 When a wicked man dieth, [his] expectation shall perish: and the hope of unjust [men] perisheth.
Ver. 7. When a wicked man dieth, his expectation shall perish.] He died, perhaps, in strong hopes of heaven, as those seem to have done that came rapping and bouncing at heaven gates, with "Lord, Lord, open unto us," but were sent away with a Non novi vos; "Depart, I know you not." {Mat 7:22-23}
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And the hope of unjust men.] Etiam spes valentissima petit. So some render it. His most strong hope shall come to nothing. He made a bridge of his own shadow, and thought to go over it, but is fallen into the brook, he thought he had taken hold of God; but it is but with him as with a child that catcheth at the shadow on the wall, which he thinks he holds fast; but he only thinks so.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain His expectation shall perish; all his hope and felicity,…
His expectation shall perish; all his hope and felicity, which he placed wholly in earthly things, is lost and gone with him.
The hope of unjust men; so it is a repetition of the same thing in other words. Or, as divers render it, the hope of their strengths, i.e. which they place in their carnal strengths, their riches, children, friends, &c. So this is added by way of aggravation.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain Note, 1. Even wicked men, while they live, may…
Note, 1. Even wicked men, while they live, may keep up a confident expectation of a happiness when they die, or at least a happiness in this world. The hypocrite has his hope, in which he wraps himself as the spider in her web. The worldling expects great matters from his wealth; he calls it goods laid up for many years, and hopes to take his ease in it and to be merry; but in death their expectation will be frustrated: the worldling must leave this world which he expected to continue in and the hypocrite will come short of that world which he expected to remove to, Job 27:8. 2. It will be the great aggravation of the misery of wicked people that their hopes will sink into despair just when they expect them to be crowned with fruition. When a godly man dies his expectations are out-done, and all his fears vanish; but when a wicked man dies his expectations are dashed, dashed to pieces; in that very day his thoughts perish with which he had pleased himself, his hopes vanish.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain When a wicked man dieth, his expectation shall perish,....…
When a wicked man dieth, his expectation shall perish,.... His expectation of a longer life, of getting more riches, attaining to more honour, enjoying more pleasure here, and of having happiness hereafter, and of being delivered from wrath to come; he will then find, when he comes to die, that his expectations in this world are vain, and those which respect happiness in another world are ill-grounded; or when he dies, the expectation of others that depended on him, trusted in him, and looked for great things from him, will then be at an end;
and the hope of unjust men perisheth; which is as the giving up of the ghost, and expires when a man does; it is only in this life, or however it ceases when that does; he has no hope in his death, as the righteous man has; if he does not live without hope in the world, he has none when he goes out of it, or that will be of any use unto him: moreover, the hope of "unjust" men to oppress and injure others ceases when they die, Job 3:17. The word rendered unjust men is by some (h) understood of strength, substance, riches; and so the meaning may be, that such a hope that is placed in strength and riches perishes at death. Jarchi interprets it of children, which are a man's substance; as if the sense was, that the hope of the children of such persons is then cut off.
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(h) "expectatio virium", Gejerus; "spes in viribus collocata", Michaelis; "spes confidentium in divitiis", Munster; so some in Vatablus; "divitiarum", Pagniaus, Baynus; "roborum", Montanus, Amama.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 7. When a wicked man dieth] HOPE is…
Verse 7. When a wicked man dieth] HOPE is a great blessing to man in his present state of trial and suffering; because it leads him to expect a favourable termination of his ills. But hope was not made for the wicked; and yet they are the very persons that most abound in it! They hope to be saved, and get at last to the kingdom of God; though they have their face towards perdition, and refuse to turn. But their hope goes no farther than the grave. There the wicked man's expectation is cut off, and his hope perishes. But to the saint, the penitent, and the cross-bearers in general, what a treasure is hope! What a balm through life!
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Pro 11:7-8. When a wicked man dieth, his expectation…
Pro 11:7-8. When a wicked man dieth, his expectation shall perish — All his hope and felicity, which he placed wholly in earthly things, are lost and gone with him; and the hope of unjust men, &c. — This clause, according to this translation, is a mere repetition of the former: but the word אונים, here rendered unjust men, is generally translated strengths, or powers, as indeed it properly means. Divers, therefore, interpret the clause, The hope of their strengths, that is, which they place in their riches, children, friends, and other carnal props and defences, perisheth. So this is added by way of aggravation. The righteous are delivered out of trouble — When, perhaps, he hardly expected it, or even was ready to despair of it; and the wicked cometh in his stead — Is, by God’s providence, brought into the same miseries, which the wicked either designed against, or had formerly inflicted on the righteous, but which were now lately removed from them. Thus Mordecai was saved from the gallows, Daniel from the lions’ den, and Peter from the prison, and their persecutors came in their stead. Israel was delivered out of the Red sea, and the Egyptians drowned in it.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Significant words, as showing the belief that when the…
Significant words, as showing the belief that when the righteous died, his “expectation” (i. e., his hope for the future) did not perish. The second clause is rendered by some, “the expectation that brings sorrow.”
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Solicitous. Or ambitious. Hebrew, "the potent," or Septuagint, "the…
Solicitous. Or ambitious. Hebrew, "the potent," or Septuagint, "the impious."
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain expectation . . . perish--for death cuts short all…
expectation . . . perish--for death cuts short all his plans (Luk 16:25).
hope of unjust--better, "hope of wealth," or "power" (compare Isa 40:29, Hebrew). This gives an advance on the sentiment of the first clause. Even hopes of gain die with him.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 7. Wicked man dieth — This is a difficult…
7. Wicked man dieth — This is a difficult verse. Stuart renders, “When a wicked man dieth his hope shall perish, and the expectation of the afflicted perishes.” Conant: “When a wicked man dies expectation shall perish, yea, the hope of wickedness perishes;” so also Noyes, substantially. Stuart gives the meaning thus: “When the wicked see all their hopes of pleasure, riches, etc., perish, and when they are sick and afflicted, their expectations of recovery or alleviation will be frustrated.” So the Vulgate and Bertheau. Whether the Seventy had a different version before them, or whether, having the same difficulty as other translators, they made out of this verse, as they sometimes do, a proverb to suit themselves, we cannot say. But their version is different, and gives a good Christian sense with an antithesis not found in the Hebrew text: “When a righteous man dies, his hope does not perish, but the exultation of wicked men perishes,” that is, when they die. The versions and critics vary, and nothing entirely satisfactory has yet been reached. Zockler translates: “With the death of the wicked his hope cometh to naught, and the unjust expectation hath perished.” Compare Pro_10:28; Psalms 49.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 7. unjust men] iniquity, R.V. Comp. Hos_9:4, where the…
7. unjust men] iniquity, R.V. Comp. Hos_9:4, where the expression “bread of mourners” (the same Heb. word) may be “the emblem of utter impurity,” because everything connected with death involved ceremonial defilement. See note there in this Series.
Others render, with R.V. marg., strong men, or better, strength, i.e. wealth or worldly resources. The expectation of (i.e. based upon) such strength shall perish. Comp. for the sentiment Pro_11:4 above.
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The proverb obviously implies, as a matter of popular knowledge and belief, that there is an expectation which does not perish at death; an expectation, which for the true children of Abraham, as for Abraham himself (Heb_11:9-10), reached beyond remembrance on earth in fame or family, “to all generations” (Psa_49:11).
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain His expectation; that which he hoped for and set…
His expectation; that which he hoped for and set his heart upon, worldly prosperity, long life, impunity, all are cut off, and the moral government of God is confirmed, by his death. (Psa_73:17-19) (For "the hope of the ungodly," see the forcible expressions in RAPC Wis 5:14) Of unjust men; Vulgate sollicitorum; Septuagint, twn asebwn . The word seems to mean "vanities," i.e. "men of vanity abstract for concrete. Others translate, "godless hope," or "expectation that bringeth grief," or "strong, self-confident men;" "men in the fulness of their vigour." But the rendering of the Authorized Version is well supported, and the two clauses are coordinate. The Septuagint, in order to accentuate the implied antithesis, has seemingly altered the text, and introduced a thought which favours the immortality of the soul, "When a righteous man dieth, hope perisheth not; but the boast of the wicked perisheth". (RAPC Wis 3:18)
Vers. 7-10 (latter part). Two sad aspects of death.
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Death is the most unwelcome of all themes for human thought, certainly for the thought of the wicked. Yet has he special reason for considering its approach. For it is likely to arrive sooner than if he were righteous. As we read in this chapter, "Righteousness delivereth from death" (ver. 4); on the other hand, "The wicked shall fall by his own wickedness" (ver. 5). "The wages of sin is death," and every departure from rectitude is a step towards the grave. But how melancholy a thing is the death of the wicked! It means
I A MELANCHOLY EXTINCTION. Not, indeed, of the man himself, but of his work and of his hope. When the wicked dies, everything, except, indeed, the evil influences he has created and circulated, comes to a dreary end. His expectation, his hope, perishes. He can take nothing that he has toiled for into that other world which he is entering. All his laborious exertion, his elaborate contrivances, his selfish schemes, his painful humiliations, come to nothing; they are buried in the grove. He may have a powerful and well stored mind, hut he has cherished no desire, has entertained no ambition which reaches beyond the horizon of mortal life, and with the stopping of his heartbeat, every imagination of his spirit perishes; there is an untimely and utter end of all his brightest hopes. A sad and dismal outlook for a human spirit! How great and how blessed the contrast of a good man! His largest hopes are then on the point of being realized; his purest and brightest expectations are about to be fulfilled. This earth is, more or less, the scene of disappointment; but in the country whose bourne he is about to cross, he will find himself where "Trembling Hope shall realize Her full felicity.
II A PAINFUL RELIEF. "When the wicked perish, there is shouting.
1. It is bad enough when a man"s death is only felt by a very few souls. With the many opportunities we have of connecting ourselves honourably and attaching ourselves strongly to our fellows, we ought to be so much to our neighbours, that when we pass away there will be many to regret us and to speak with a kindly sorrow of our departure. Poor and fruitless must that life have been when this is not so.
2. It is seriously sad when a man"s death excites no regret; when "the mourners" do not mourn; when the only thing that is real about the funereal scene is the drapery of woe. It is a pitiful thing when Christ"s minister cannot pray for Divine comfort, because, though there are those who are bereaved, there is none that is afflicted.
3. It is a most melancholy thing when a man"s death is felt to be a positive relief; when, as he is borne to the grave, those who knew him cannot help being glad that one more root of mischief is plucked up, one more source of sorrow taken away. That a man, created to be a light, a refuge, a blessing, a brother, a deliverer, should be put away with a feeling in every one"s heart of gladness that he will be seen no more, put out of sight with the sentiment that the sooner he is forgotten the better, this is sad indeed. What, then, is
III THE CONCLUSION OF THE WISE? It is this: "Let me die the death of the righteous." But the disappointing career of the author of these words (Num_23:10 Jos_13:22) should be a solemn warning and a powerful incentive to form the firm resolution to live the life of the righteous, lest, as in Balaam"s case, death should overtake us when we are in the ranks of the enemy. C.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain The hope of unjust men perisheth.
Pro_11:7
The hope of unjust men perisheth.
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The terrible in human history
There are two terrible events in this text.
I. Death meeting the wicked man. The wicked man dieth.
1. Death does not wait for reformation of character.
2. The greatest enemies of God and His universe are overcome. There is a stronger power than that of the wicked.
II. Hope leaving the human soul. What is dearer to the soul than hope? The soul lives in and by hope. Shakespeare Says, The miserable hath no medicine, but only hope. When the wicked man dieth, he loses this hope. Hope of liberty, of improvement, of honour, of happiness. He dieth, and carrieth nothing away. (D. Thomas, D.D.)
The hope of the wicked
Men derive almost the whole of their happiness from hope. The wicked man laughs at the righteous because he lives by hope; but the wicked man himself does the same. The present situation of the wicked man never yields him the pleasure which he wishes and expects, but there is ever something in view, in which, could he but obtain it, he would find rest. If his hopes are deferred, his heart is sick; if they are accomplished he is still unsatisfied; but he comforts himself with some other hope, like a child, who thinks he sees a rainbow on the top of a neighbouring hill, and runs to take hold of it, but sees it as far removed from him as before. Thus the life of a wicked man is spent in vain wishes and toils and hopes, till death kills at once his body, his hope, and his happiness. (G. Lawson.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain Pro_11:7. His and men are not in the original,…
CRITICAL NOTES.—
Pro_11:7. His and men are not in the original, and the verse is variously rendered. Stuart reads, “When the wicked die, all the hopes perish; and when they are afflicted, their expectation of recovery or alleviation will be frustrated.” Zöckler—“With the death of the wicked hope cometh to nought, and the unjust expectation has perished.” Miller—“By the death of a wicked man hope is lost, and the expectation of sorrowing ones is lost already.”
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MAIN HOMILETICS OF Pro_11:7
THE DEATH OF THE WICKED
I. An inevitable event in relation to a wicked man. “When a wicked man dieth.” He must die. “It is appointed unto men,”—to the good and to the bad—“once to die.” (Heb_9:27).
1. This inevitable event is most undesired by the wicked man. The certainty of any coming event will make it to be dreaded in proportion as it is felt that its advent must be followed by unpleasant consequences. The man who knows that nothing can save him from becoming a bankrupt at no distant period feels the certainty of the fact to be a most unwelcome thought. The man who knows that on a certain day of reckoning he will be unable to meet his liabilities, and that the day will as surely arrive as the planets will hold on their way in the heavens, can only look forward to the future with the most gloomy apprehensions. That coming day is ever hanging over his present, and imparting a sting to every hour in which he allows his thoughts to dwell upon it. The certainty of death is a most painful subject of contemplation for a wicked man. Conscience tells him that he has no resources wherewith to meet the demands of that day—he knows that he is unfit to face that most ruthless of all creditors, and the knowledge that nothing can turn aside his footsteps is often a bitter drop in the cup of his present apparent prosperity and security.
2. The wicked man takes refuge from the thought of the certainty of the event in the uncertainty of the time when it will take place. He indulges in “hopes,” and “expectations,” concerning the present life, because of the indefiniteness of its length. Although he knows that death must come one day, he hopes that it may be many years hence. The rich fool in our Lord’s parable knew that he must die some day—he admitted that certainty. But he made the uncertainty of the time an excuse for taking present ease. He refused to take into account the possibility that the summons had gone forth: “This night thy soul shall be required of thee.”
3. The certainty of the death of the wicked is a most painful subject of thought to good men. They look at the present condition of the ungodly, and, knowing the indispensable and intimate connection between present character and future happiness or misery, the certainty of the death of the wicked man is often a more saddening thought to them than to the man himself. The contemplation of such an event must give pain to a soul in harmony with God and goodness.
4. Yet, looked at with regard to his relation with others, the certainty of the death of the wicked is most desirable. If one portion of the body has become so diseased that the whole body is likely to suffer from it, a severance between the diseased part and the sound body must take place, however painful the operation may be. The loss of the part is indispensable to the salvation of the rest. There have been, and there are, men who are so morally diseased that their removal from the world is to be desired for the sake of others. It must be regarded as a blessing for the world that the death of the wicked is certain. The death of one wicked man is sometimes the means of bringing peace to many to whom his existence was a curse. There are men who do the best thing for the world when they leave it—their exit from it is the greatest benefit they have ever conferred upon it.
II. The wicked man is in his worst condition when he has most need of being in his best. It is at death that his expectation and hope perish. The time when we approach a crisis in our history is a time when we need to be most furnished with all the resources that will be demanded to meet it. It was more necessary that David should be filled with faith and courage when he went forth to meet Goliath than when he was keeping his sheep in his father’s fields. When a youthful candidate for academical honour comes to the day of his examination, he needs to concentrate all his past days of study into one focus. If on that day all his mental powers are not at their very best, he is likely to be overwhelmed with disappointment instead of to be crowned with honour. It is sad indeed to be dragged down by fear and despair at the moment when we need all the inspiration of confidence and hope to bear us up. The day of death is the great crisis to which all human life is tending—it is the day when a man needs every possible support to enable him to meet the solemn fact with which he stands face to face. Hope of a blessed immortality should then bear us up. We ought to be able to say, “I know in whom I have believed;” “I am now ready to be offered and the time of my departure is at hand” (2Ti_4:6). But this is the hour when a wicked man’s hope takes wing and flies away. He is at his worst when he needs to be at his best.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
Men derive almost the whole of their happiness from hope. The wicked man laughs at the righteous because he lives by hope; but the wicked man himself does the same with this difference, that whilst the hopes of the one are coeval with eternity, those of the other are bounded by time. The present situation of the wicked man never yields him the pleasure which he wishes and expects.… if his hope is deferred, his heart is sick; if it is accomplished, he is still unsatisfied; but he comforts himself with some other hope, like a child who sees a rainbow on the top of a neighbouring hill, and runs to take hold of it, but sees it as far removed from him as before. Thus the life of a wicked man is spent in vain wishes, and toils, and hopes, till death kills at once his body, his hope, and his happiness.—Lawson.
It is sad to be drawn into ruin by “desire” (see last verse); because it breeds only “hope,” and that is sure to perish. “The world passes away, and the desire of it” (1Jn_2:17).—Miller.
There have been some who have questioned whether the doctrine of a future state was understood under the former dispensation. They have regarded that economy as to such an extent carnal, worldly, and temporary, as to have excluded from it all reference to that subject. I might show, from many passages, the falsity of such a sentiment. In this verse we have one of them. Nothing can be clearer than that, were there not such a future state, the expectation and hope of righteous and wicked alike must perish together, and that the very distinction so evidently made here between the one and the other proceeds upon the assumption of a state beyond the present.—Wardlaw.
He died, perhaps, in strong hopes of heaven, as those seem to have done that came rapping and bouncing at heaven’s gates, with “Lord, Lord, open to us,” but were sent away with a “Depart, I know you not” (Mat_7:22). His most strong hope shall come to nothing. He made a bridge of his own shadow and thought to go over it, but is fallen into the brook. He thought he had taken hold of God; but it is but with him as with a child that catcheth at the shadow on the wall, which he thinks he holds fast. But he only thinks so.—Trapp.
He never had good by any hope, which hath not the fruition of his hope at death. Though a man should never obtain his desire in any earthly thing during his life, yet, if he enjoy salvation after this life, he hath failed of nothing. Though a man should miss of nothing that his heart could wish for, while breath is in his body, yet if he be damned, when the soul goeth out of his body, he hath never gained anything.—Dod.
Hope and expectation are long-lived things; though weak, and sick and blind, yet they hold out. They live with the longest liver, and seldom die in any, until they die themselves in whom they are. But the hope of the wicked doth not only die, but perish, that is, is lost in some unlooked-for, unthought-of manner.—Jermin.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain v. 7. When a wicked man dieth, his expectation…
v. 7. When a wicked man dieth, his expectation shall perish, all his hopes come to naught, his longing for wealth and honor and the gratification of his lusts is cut off, and the hope of unjust men perisheth, literally, "the expectation of wickedness," for death puts an end to all desires of this kind. This verse implies, also, that death cuts off all hopes, every person being judged according to the way in which death finds him; there is no purgatory and therefore no deliverance from purgatory.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 the hope that was in his strength
the hope that was in his strength
"the confidence he has in his own power"
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comes to nothing
"disappears"
The righteous person is kept away from trouble
This can be stated in active form. AT: "God keeps away from trouble the person who does what is right" (See: Active or Passive)
it comes
"trouble comes"
translationWords
evil
die
perish
hope
strength
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.