A righteous person is delivered out of trouble, and the wicked takes his place.
Parallel Translations
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A righteous person is delivered out of trouble, and the wicked takes his place.
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The righteous is delivered out of trouble, and the wicked cometh in his stead.
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The righteous is delivered out of trouble, and the wicked cometh in his stead.
Examined in Scripture Analysis
Contradictions (1)
Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
Cross-references (4)
Passages linked to Proverbs 11:8 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Daniel 6:23-24 Then the king was exceedingly glad, and commanded that they should take Daniel up out of the den. So Daniel was taken up out of the den, and no kind of harm was found on him, because he had trusted in his God. The king commanded, and they brought those men who had accused Daniel, and they cast them into the den of lions, them, their children, and their wives; and the lions mauled them, and broke all their bones in pieces, before they came to the bottom of the den.
- Proverbs 21:18 The wicked is a ransom for the righteous, the treacherous for the upright.
- Esther 7:9-10 Then Harbonah, one of the eunuchs who were with the king said, “Behold, the gallows fifty cubits high, which Haman has made for Mordecai, who spoke good for the king, is standing at Haman’s house.” The king said, “Hang him on it!” So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the king’s wrath was pacified.
- Isaiah 43:3-4 For I am Yahweh your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I have given Egypt as your ransom, Ethiopia and Seba in your place. Since you have been precious and honored in my sight, and I have loved you, therefore I will give people in your place, and nations instead of your life.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (16 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain That is, shall enter into trouble.
That is, shall enter into trouble.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Pro 11:8 The righteous is delivered out of trouble,…
Pro 11:8 The righteous is delivered out of trouble, and the wicked cometh in his stead.
Ver. 8. And the wicked cometh in his stead.] Thus it befell Haman, and Daniel’s enemies, and those inhuman Edomites, {Lam 4:21} and Herod with his hacksters. {Act 12:1-4; Act 12:21-23} It is "a righteous thing with God," {2Th 1:6-7} though to men it seem an incredible paradox, and a news by far more admirably [wonderfull] than acceptable, that there should be such a transmutation of conditions on both sides, to contraries. But thus it happens frequently. John Martin of Briqueras, a mile from Angrogne, in France, vaunted everywhere that he would slit the minister’s nose of Angrogne. But, behold! himself was shortly after assaulted by a wolf, which bit off his nose, so that he died mad from it. {a}
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{a} Acts and Mon., fol. 871.
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 Is by God’s providence brought into the same miseries,…
Is by God’s providence brought into the same miseries, which either he designed against the righteous, or had formerly inflicted upon the righteous, and now lately removed from them.
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 As always in death, so sometimes in life, the…
As always in death, so sometimes in life, the righteous are remarkably favoured and the wicked crossed. 1. Good people are helped out of the distresses which they thought themselves lost in, and their feet are set in a large room, Psa 66:12; Psa 34:19. God has found out a way to deliver his people even when they have despaired and their enemies have triumphed, as if the wilderness had shut them in. 2. The wicked have fallen into the distresses which they thought themselves far from, nay, which they had been instrumental to bring the righteous into, so that they seem to come in their stead, as a ransom for the just. Mordecai is saved from the gallows, Daniel from the lion's den, and Peter from the prison; and their persecutors come in their stead. The Israelites are delivered out of the Red Sea and the Egyptians drowned in it. So precious are the saints in God's eye that he gives men for them, Isa 43:3, Isa 43:4.
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 The righteous is delivered out of trouble,.... One after…
The righteous is delivered out of trouble,.... One after another he comes into, if not in this life, yet at death; which is to him a perfect deliverance out of all tribulation; see Rev 7:14; or when the wicked die, as in Pro 11:7, then the righteous are delivered from the trouble they gave them, or designed to give them; though it seems rather to design deliverance from trouble in the first sense, since it follows,
and the wicked cometh in his stead; as Haman did in the room of Mordecai, and was hanged upon the gallows the other was delivered from, and he had prepared for him, Est 7:10; and as Daniel was delivered from the lion's den, and his enemies thrown into it, Dan 6:24; and as in the latter day the righteous will be delivered from all their persecutors, and antichrist will be destroyed with the breath of Christ's mouth, and the brightness of his coming; and then they that destroyed the earth shall be destroyed themselves, Rev 11:18.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Cometh - Into trouble.
Cometh - Into trouble.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 8. The wicked cometh in his stead.] Often…
Verse 8. The wicked cometh in his stead.] Often God makes this distinction; in public calamities and in sudden accidents he rescues the righteous, and leaves the wicked, who has filled up the measure of his iniquities, to be seized by the hand of death. Justice, then, does its own work; for mercy has been rejected.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Charles Bridges 1846 · Public Domain Thus do these two classes change places in the…
Thus do these two classes change places in the dispensations of God. The same providence often marks Divine faithfulness and retributive justice. The Israelites were delivered out of the trouble of the Red Sea; the Egyptians came in their stead. (Exo 14:21-28 .) Mordecai was delivered from the gallows; Haman was hanged upon it. (Est 5:14 ; Est 7:10 .) The noble confessors in Babylon were saved from the fire; their executioners were "slain" by it. (Dan 3:22-26 .) Daniel was preserved from the lions; his accusers were devoured by them. (Dan 6:22-24 .) Peter was snatched from death; his jailers and persecutors were condemned. (Act 12:6, Act 12:19, Act 12:23 .) Thus "precious in the sight of the LORD is" the life, no less than "the death, of his saints." (Psa 116:15 .) For the deliverance of one precious soul out of trouble he will bring a nation into distress. (1Sa 23:25-28 .) Yea — for the ransom of his own chosen people, he gave not only "Egypt" of old, but in later times "Ethiopia and Seba — men for them, and people for their life."†1 To what source but his own free and sovereign love can we trace this special estimation? "Since thou wast precious in my sight, thou hast been honourable, and I have loved thee." (Isa 43:4, ut supra.) We do not always mark the same outward manifestation. But the love is unchangeably the same. And how should it at once lay us in the dust, and build our confidence upon an unshaking foundation!
Footnotes:
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†1 Isa 43:3-4, with 2Ch 14:9-11 . 2Ki 19:9 . Compare Pro 21:18 . How different their estimation in the eyes of man, when an Eastern autocrat was willing to cut them off at a single blow as a worthless thing! Est 3:8-15 . Compare 1Co 4:13 .
Charles Bridges, An Exposition of the Book of Proverbs (1846) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain For him. As comparatively nothing worth to his master,…
For him. As comparatively nothing worth to his master, chap. xxi. 18., and Isaias xliii. 3
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 Perhaps the trouble prepared by the wicked, and which…
Perhaps the trouble prepared by the wicked, and which he inherits (compare Pro 11:6).
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 8. The righteous is delivered — A plain proverb,…
8. The righteous is delivered — A plain proverb, often illustrated in actual life. See Dan_6:14, seq.; Est_5:14; Est_7:8-10; Psa_7:15.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (8) The righteous is delivered out of trouble. .…
(8) The righteous is delivered out of trouble. . . .—That is, misfortunes pass by the righteous and fall upon the wicked. (Comp. Pro_21:18.) Or, it may mean that the righteous “is taken away from the evil to come “by death (Isa_57:1), the wicked lives on to suffer in his place.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Out of trouble; i.e. God is at hand to…
Out of trouble; i.e. God is at hand to help the righteous out of straits (de angustia, Vulgate); or takes him away from the evil to come. (Isa_57:1 RAPC Wis 4:10-14) Septuagint, "escapeth from the chase." In his stead. (Pro_21:18) The evil from which the righteous is saved fails upon the wicked. As Abraham says to Dives in the parable, "He is comforted, but thou art tormented". (comp. Luk_16:25) Of this substitution many instances occur in Scripture. Thus Haman was hanged on the gallows which he had erected for Mordecai; (Est_7:10) Daniel"s accusers were cast into the den of lions from which he was saved. (Dan_6:24 Isa_43:4)
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 righteous is delivered out of trouble, and the…
Pro_11:8
The righteous is delivered out of trouble, and the wicked cometh in his stead.
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Trouble in its relation to the righteous and the wicked
All men have their troubles. The relation of the good and the bed to trouble is strikingly different.
I. The righteous are going out of trouble. The troubles of the righteous arise from physical infirmities, mental difficulties, secular anxieties, moral imperfections, social dishonesties, falsehoods, end bereavements. But the fact is, that they are being delivered out of these troubles.
1. Partially, they are being delivered out of trouble now.
2. Completely, they will be delivered out of all trouble at death.
II. The wicked are going into trouble. They are going deeper into trouble every step they take. They are forging thunderbolts and nursing storms. The trouble they are going into is unmitigated. (D. Thomas, D.D.)
Retributive justice
Thus do these two classes change places in the dispensations of God. The same Providence often marks Divine faithfulness and retributive justice. The Israelites were delivered out of the trouble of the Red Sea; the Egyptians came in their stead. Mordecai was delivered from the gallows; Haman was hanged upon it. The noble confessors in Babylon were saved from the fire; their executioners were slain by it. Daniel was preserved from the lions; his accusers were devoured by them. Peter was snatched from death; his jailors and persecutors were condemned. Thus precious in the sight of the Lord is the life, no less than the death, of his saints. To what source but his own free and sovereign love can we trace this special estimation? (C. Bridges.)
The wicked cometh in his stead
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came unhurt out of the burning fiery furnace; whilst the men who cast them in were slain by the fierceness of the heat (Dan_3:22-27.) Daniel was taken up alive and uninjured out of the lions den; whilst the men who had accused him were cast into the same den, and the lions, which had not touched Daniel, brake all their bones in pieces before they reached the bottom of the den (Dan_6:23-24).
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 MAIN HOMILETICS OF Pro_11:8
MAIN HOMILETICS OF Pro_11:8
THE WICKED COMING IN THE STEAD OF THE RIGHTEOUS
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I. This proverb must be fulfilled from the nature of the case. If a vessel is being steered straight for the rocks nothing can prevent her from being dashed upon them except a change of course. Nothing else can avert the catastrophe, unless a supernatural power removes the rock out of the way. This last cannot be; the first alternative rests with the will of the commander. If another vessel is going in an opposite direction she must as necessarily escape the doom to which the other is hastening. There is nothing of fate about their different destinies, they are the outcome of a choice of opposite courses. So with the opposite ends of the righteous and the wicked. Deliverance for the first, an inheritance of trouble for the latter, are the result of no arbitrary fate but the outcome of their pursuing opposite courses. Unless God will remove His everlasting laws out of the universe it must be so, and to expect Him to do that is to expect Him to change His nature, which would be a much more dire calamity than the trouble which comes upon the wicked from his course of wilful opposition to righteousness. For in this life it is always open to a man to turn round, to change his course, and so to escape the shipwreck of his existence upon the rocks of perdition. “Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon” (Isa_55:7). God will not remove His righteous laws out of the sinner’s way, but He holds out every inducement and encouragement to the transgressor to come into harmony with them.
II. The proverb has received abundant illustrations in the history of our race. Pharaoh designed to drive the Israelitish nation into the Red Sea and so to destroy them. God delivered them, and their oppressors “came in their stead.” Daniel’s persecutors planned to take his life, “the righteous man was delivered out of trouble,” and his wicked slanderers met with the death to which they had hoped to bring him. Instances might be multiplied in which this truth has been illustrated both in Scripture history and in more modern times.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
It is a “righteous thing” with God (2Th_1:6-7), though to men it seems an incredible paradox, and a news far more wonderful than acceptable, that there should be such a transmutation of conditions on both sides, to contraries.—Trapp.
Though the afflictions of good men seem sharp and grievous, yet they are not perpetual. Before ever God bring His into troubles, He appointeth how they shall be preserved in them, and pass through them, and get out of them. He doth as well see their arrival, as their launching forth, and the end of the boisterous storms which they must endure as well as the beginning and entrance thereof.—Dod.
In this world trouble is a common place, as the world is, both to the righteous and the wicked, and it beseems them both. The one has his proper and due place, the other has his place of honour. For, as St. Basil saith, He that saith that tribulation doth not beseem a righteous man, saith nothing else but that an adversary doth not beseem a valiant champion. Sometimes God Himself doth put the righteous into trouble, and then as the place belongeth to them, so St. Chrysostom tells us, God doth it not to bring the trouble upon us, but rather by the trouble to bring us to Himself. Sometimes the injustice or malice of men doth thrust them into it, and then, God delivering them, puts the wicked in their place. For this world is full of misplacings, the wicked being seated where the godly should be, the godly seated where the wicked should be. God Almighty is pleased sometimes to put things in order, and, showing mercy to the righteous, doth give the wicked their due place.—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. 8. The righteous is delivered out of trouble,…
v. 8. The righteous is delivered out of trouble, the Lord Himself being his Deliverer, 2Ti 4:18, and the wicked cometh in his stead, taking the place of the righteous in the midst of trouble.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.