A man shall not be established by wickedness, but the root of the righteous shall not be moved.
Parallel Translations
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A man shall not be established by wickedness, but the root of the righteous shall not be moved.
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A man shall not be established by wickedness: but the root of the righteous shall not be moved.
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A man shall not be established by wickedness; but the root of the righteous shall never be moved.
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 (11)
Passages linked to Proverbs 12:3 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Proverbs 10:25 When the whirlwind passes, the wicked is no more; but the righteous stand firm forever.
- Ephesians 3:17 that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, to the end that you, being rooted and grounded in love,
- Proverbs 12:12 The wicked desires the plunder of evil men, but the root of the righteous flourishes.
- Colossians 2:7 rooted and built up in him, and established in the faith, even as you were taught, abounding in it in thanksgiving.
- Job 27:16-18 Though he heap up silver as the dust, and prepare clothing as the clay; he may prepare it, but the just will put it on, and the innocent will divide the silver. He builds his house as the moth, as a booth which the watchman makes.
- Psalms 125:1-2 Those who trust in Yahweh are as Mount Zion, which can’t be moved, but remains forever. As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so Yahweh surrounds his people from this time forward and forever more.
- Job 5:3-5 I have seen the foolish taking root, but suddenly I cursed his habitation. His children are far from safety. They are crushed in the gate. Neither is there any to deliver them, whose harvest the hungry eats up, and take it even out of the thorns. The snare gapes for their substance.
- Psalms 15:5 he who doesn’t lend out his money for usury, nor take a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things shall never be shaken.
- 1 Samuel 25:33 Blessed is your discretion, and blessed are you, who have kept me today from blood guiltiness, and from avenging myself with my own hand.
- Job 20:5-9 that the triumphing of the wicked is short, the joy of the godless but for a moment? Though his height mount up to the heavens, and his head reach to the clouds, yet he will perish forever like his own dung. Those who have seen him will say, ‘Where is he?’ He will fly away as a dream, and will not be found. Yes, he will be chased away like a vision of the night. The eye which saw him will see him no more, neither will his place see him any more.
- Job 15:29 He will not be rich, neither will his substance continue, neither will their possessions be extended on the earth.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (14 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain They are so grounded in the favor of God,…
They are so grounded in the favor of God, that their root shall prosper continually.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Pro 12:3 A man shall not be established by…
Pro 12:3 A man shall not be established by wickedness: but the root of the righteous shall not be moved.
Ver. 3. A man shall not be established by wickedness.] For he lays his foundation upon firework, and brimstone is scattered upon his house top: if the fire of God from heaven but flash upon it, it will be all a flame immediately. He walks all day upon a mine of gunpowder; and hath God with his armies ready to run upon the thickest bosses of his buckler, and to hurl him to hell. How can this man be sure of anything? Cain built cities, but could not rest in them. Ahab begat seventy sons, but not one successor in the kingdom. Phocas having built a mighty wall, heard from heaven: "Though thy walls were as high as heaven, sin is under it, and will subvert it." {a} Aσταφμητον το κακον. Sin hath no settledness.
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But the root of the righteous shall not be moved.] For though shaken with winds, yet they are rooted as trees; like a ship at anchor, they wag up and down, yet remove not. "God is my rock, I shall not be greatly moved." {Psa 62:2} Nay, "I shall not be moved at all." {Pro 12:6} "The gates of hell cannot do it." {Mat 16:18} "None can pluck them out of God’s hands," {Joh 10:28} for he "hath laid help upon one that is mighty." {Psa 89:19}
{a} εαν υφοις τα ταιχη εως ουρανου ενδον το κακον, ευαλωτος η πολις.
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 By wickedness; by any sinful courses by which he…
By wickedness; by any sinful courses by which he useth to secure or stablish himself; whereby he implies that he shall be rooted up.
Shall not be moved, to wit, out of its place. He shall stand fast, and flourish, like a well-rooted tree.
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. Though men may advance themselves by sinful…
Note, 1. Though men may advance themselves by sinful arts, they cannot by such arts settle and secure themselves; though they may get large estates they cannot get such as will abide: A man shall not be established by wickedness; it may set him in high places, but they are slippery places, Psa 73:18. That prosperity which is raised by sin is built on the sand, and so it will soon appear. 2. Though good men may have but little of the world, yet that little will last, and what is honestly got will wear well: The root of the righteous shall not be moved, though their branches may be shaken. Those that by faith are rooted in Christ are firmly fixed; in him their comfort and happiness are so rooted as never to be rooted up.
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 A man shall not be established by wickedness,.... Not…
A man shall not be established by wickedness,.... Not any man, though he may be established in his wickedness, so as not to be rooted out of it; yet he cannot be so established by it as not to be removed from a prosperous state and condition into an unhappy and distressed one; he may seem to be in a firm and settled state of prosperity, amidst all his wickedness; be like a green bay tree, spreading itself, and seemingly immovable, when on a sudden it is blown down and rooted up, and is no more: so Babylon will seem to be in a settled state of grandeur, ease, and rest, and say, "I sit a queen, and shall see no sorrow"; when in one day, and in one hour, her destruction shall come upon her, Rev 18:7;
but the root of the righteous shall not be moved; they are rooted and grounded in the love of God, which is immovable; they are rooted and built up in Christ, and so are as Mount Zion, which can never be removed; the root of the matter, or of grace, is in them, which can never be lost; while others wither away, because they have no root in them, these abide; and though they may be shaken with the persecutions of men, the temptations of Satan, the errors of the wicked, and their own corruptions, yet they afresh take root again downward, and bring forth fruit upward.
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 3. A man shall not be established by…
Verse 3. A man shall not be established by wickedness] Evil is always variable: it has no fixed principle, except the root that is in the human heart; and even that is ever assuming new forms. Nothing is permanent but goodness; and that is unchangeable, because it comes from GOD. The produce of goodness is permanent, because it has God's blessing in it: the fruit of wickedness, or the property procured by wickedness, is transitory, because it has God's curse in it. The righteous has his root in God; and therefore he shall not be moved.
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 12:3. A man shall not be established by…
Pro 12:3. A man shall not be established by wickedness — By any sinful course, however craftily devised, and apparently well calculated to answer that end. For the power and prosperity which are raised by sin are built on the sand. But the root of the righteous shall not be moved — Namely, out of its place. They shall stand fast and flourish like well-rooted trees.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Charles Bridges 1846 · Public Domain The man of evil devices may prosper for a…
The man of evil devices may prosper for a time, but he shall not be established by wickedness; except as God may permit it, in the sovereignty of his purposes, and the judicial chastening of his wrath. But how soon was the successful treason of Abimelech (Jdg 9:54-57 ), and the Israelitish kings (1Ki 16:9-10 . 2Ki 15:10-14 . 2Ch 21:4, 2Ch 21:13-15 ), brought to an end! Ahab strove to establish himself in despite of the threatened curse of God. He increased his family, trained them with care under the tutelage of his choicest nobility. And surely one at least out of seventy might remain to inherit his throne. But this was the vain "striving" of the worm "with his Maker." One hour swept them all away; and not a word of the threatening fell to the ground.†1 The evil device of Caiaphas also, to establish his nation by wickedness, was the means of its overthrow. (Joh 11:49-50 ; with Mat 21:43-44 .) Such is the infatuation of sin!
Firm and unshaken is the condition of the righteous. Their leaves may wither in the blast. Their branches may tremble in the fury of the tempest. But their root — the true principle of life — shall not be moved. They "are scarcely saved," not without many tossings. But they are surely saved, beyond the powers of hell to destroy. Does not thy faith — Christian — sometimes faint in the wearisome assaults of thy implacable enemy? Rejoice in the assurance, that it cannot fail. (Luk 22:31-32 .) Thou art "rooted and grounded" in a sure foundation. (Eph 3:17 . Col 2:7 .) Let "the LORD, who is thy strength," — be "thy song." — ’He only is my Rock and my salvation; I shall not be greatly moved: I shall not be moved at all.’ (Isa 12:2 . Psa 62:2, Psa 62:6 . Mic 7:8 . Rom 8:31-39 .)
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And how bright is this prospect for the Church! It shall not be moved. (Psa 125:1-2 . Isa 26:1 .) Triumphant is her confidence in the day of conflict. "The gates of hell shall not prevail. No weapon that is formed against her shall prosper." (Mat 16:18 . Isa 54:17 .)
Footnotes:
†1 1Ki 21:21, with 2Ki 10:1-7 . Compare the striking figures in the book of Job 15:29 ; Job 20:5-9 ; Job 27:13-17 .
Charles Bridges, An Exposition of the Book of Proverbs (1846) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain Wickedness cannot give permanent prosperity.
Wickedness cannot give permanent prosperity.
root . . . not be moved--firm as a flourishing tree-- (Psa 1:3; Psa 15:5; Jer 17:8).
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 3. Root of the righteous — The righteous are…
3. Root of the righteous — The righteous are here figuratively compared to a tree deeply rooted, and able to resist the storms, and continue unmoved in a flourishing condition. Not so the wicked. Compare Psa_1:3-4; Pro_10:25; Isa_61:4; Isa_27:6; Jer_17:8; Eph_3:17; Col_2:7.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain A man shall not be established by wickedness. Man…
A man shall not be established by wickedness. Man is metaphorically compared to a tree, especially the olive. Wickedness gives him no firm hold for growth or life. (comp. Pro_10:25) The root of the righteous shall not be moved. The righteous are planted in a good soil, are "rooted and grounded in love", (Eph_3:17) and the root being thus well placed, the tree is safe, and brings forth much fruit. (comp. ver. 12; Job_14:7-9)
The instability of wickedness.
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I WICKEDNESS MAY BRING TEMPORAL PROSPERITY. It is important to observe the limitations of our subject. The Bible is not an unreasonable book; it does not ignore the patent facts of life; it does not deny that there are pleasures of sin. The very statement that "a man shall not be established by wickedness" implies that he may be lifted up, and may really enjoy prosperity for a season. Though not built up, he may be puffed up. This is to be borne in mind, lest the experience come as a delusion. All the warnings about the fatality of a sinful course are given with a frank recognition of its transient advantages. Therefore the occurrence of these advantages does not contradict the warnings.
II WICKEDNESS DOES NOT SECURE STABLE PROSPERITY. It does not "establish." There is no faculty for building in it. There are "tents of wickedness;" but these are frail and flimsy compared to "the house of the Lord". (Ps 84) When at its best and brightest, the product of evil is but a bubble that will burst with a touch of righteous judgment. The equilibrium is unstable. There is no foundation of truth to support the poor structure; it is not built according to the laws of righteousness; it is not guarded against the shock of adverse circumstances. The bad prosperous man has many enemies. All the course of the universe is in the long run directed against him. He has not God on his side, and at any moment the suspended hand of justice may fall upon his unsheltered head.
III WICKEDNESS WILL NOT LEAD TO PERMANENT PROSPERITY. The pleasures of sin, at the best, do but endure for a season. The sinner lives, so to speak, "from hand to mouth." If in this life only he had hope, the prospect would be poor; for most of the delights of wickedness are very brief, and the consequences of shame and trouble soon follow even upon earth. The harvest of a young man"s folly may be reaped by middle age. But when we consider the eternal future, the utter inability of wickedness to establish any enduring prosperity becomes clearly visible. For no one can pretend that his wicked devices extend beyond the grave; and no one can fortify himself against the pains of a future state by any successful Macchiavellianism, however cleverly devised it may be with a view to worldly security.
IV WICKEDNESS SECURES NO PROSPERITY TO A MAN HIMSELF. A man shall not be established by wickedness." His business may be so established; his plans and devices may be made firm. But these things are not the man himself, and all the while they are prospering he may be tottering to ruin, like a consumptive millionaire or a paralytic winner of a lottery prize. Then the whole pursuit has ended in failure; for what is the use of the huntsman"s success in shooting the game if he cannot bring home and enjoy what he has acquired?
V RIGHTEOUSNESS IS A TRUE SECURITY. It has a root in the eternal laws of God. Though the storm tear off its "peaceable fruits," this deep and hidden source remains. We cannot be satisfied with only wearing a "robe of righteousness." We must have the living thing with its deep root a growth which Christ plants. (Rom_3:22)
Vers. 3, 12. Strength and fruitfulness.
Concerning the righteous man two things are here affirmed.
I IN HIM IS STRENGTH. "The root of the righteous shall never be moved." The strong wind comes and blows down the tree which has not struck its roots far into the foil; it tears it up by the roots and stretches it prone upon the ground. It has no strength to stand because its root is easily moved. The righteous man is a tree of another kind; his root shall never be moved; he will stand against the storm. But he must be a man who deserves to be called and considered "righteous" because he is such in deed and in truth; for they are many who pass for such of whom no such affirmation as this can be made. The man of whom the text speaks:
1. Is well rooted. He is rooted
(1) in Divine truth, and not merely in human speculation;
(2) in deep conviction, and not merely in indolent acceptance of inherited belief, or in strong but evanescent emotion;
(3) in the fixed habit of the soul and of the life, and not merely in occasional, spasmodic outbursts.
2. Is immovable. There may come against him the strong winds of bodily indulgence, or of pure affection, or of intellectual struggle and perplexity, or of worldly pressure; but they do not avail; he is immovable; his roots only strike deeper and spread further in the ground. He "stands fast in the Lord;" he is a conqueror through Christ who loves him. For:
3. He is upheld by Divine power. While his own spiritual condition and his moral habits have much to do with his steadfastness, he will be the first to say that God is "upholding him in his integrity, and setting him before his face.
II IN HIM IS FRUITLESSNESS. "The root of the righteous yieldeth fruit" (ver. 12). The ungodly man cannot be said to bear fruit, for the product of his soul and of his life does not deserve that fair name.
1. The forms of godly fruitfulness are these:
(1) all excellency of spirit;
(2) all beauty and worthiness of life, the presence of that which is pleasing in the sight of God and admirable in the sight of man;
(3) all earnest endeavour to do good, the patient, persevering effort to instil the thoughts of Christ into the minds of men, to awaken their slumbering consciences, to lift up their lives, to ennoble their character, to enlarge their destiny.
2. The source and the security of such fruitfulness are:
(1) Union with the living Vine.
(2) Abiding in him. (Joh_15:1-8)
(3) The wise and kind discipline of the Divine Husbandman. C. (Joh_15:2 Heb_12:10, Heb_12:11)
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain MAIN HOMILETICS OF Pro_12:3
MAIN HOMILETICS OF Pro_12:3
A RIGHT DESIRE AND THE MEANS OF ITS ATTAINMENT
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I. There has always been a desire in men for establishment—for fixedness.
1. It is a good and God-given aspiration, and manifests itself in many ways. Men rightly desire to have a settled home—a spot on earth to which they may attach themselves and from which they cannot be driven. This is a desire especially strong in the western and northern nations, and has been a powerful element in their development. Men desire a permanent and certain income, and the desire to obtain it is a great motive power to induce them to acquire knowledge of mechanical arts and professions. Men desire to earn a fixed reputation, and the desire acts as a moral power in the world.
2. It is a desire very old in its manifestation. Very early in the history of our race we have an instance of man’s desire for fixedness of position on the earth, and for a permanent reputation. It was this that prompted the men of Shinar to say one to another, “Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the earth” (Gen_11:4). They desired to have a centre of unity in the world—a spot where they could settle down together and establish a name that would outlive them. The building of Babel is a parable of what has been going on ever since, and will go on until the end of time. The building is not of bricks and mortar, but the desire is the same.
II. Men can only have this desire satisfied in one way. The men who purposed to build the tower of Babel used wrong means to fulfil a lawful desire. It was right to aspire towards reaching the fixedness of heaven, but that cannot be done with bricks were they never so many or so well burnt. They did “make a name,” but not the name they desired. And so it is with men now. They want to gain for themselves a permanent resting place and a lasting name, and they think to attain their desire by linking themselves with something belonging only to earth, they desire to reach the heavenly with the earthly. And if they could use all the clay upon the globe to make their bricks they would find their tower fall far short of reaching heaven. All life without God is a life of wickedness, and such a life cannot be an establishment because it is contrary to Divine law. But this desire towards the immutable is intended by God to lead man to turn his face towards “those things which cannot be shaken” (Heb_12:27), that righteous character which fits a man for the “house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens” (2Co_5:1), which can be obtained by union with Him who is immutable—“The same yesterday, to-day, and for ever” (Heb_13:8). Men may build upon a foundation which shall not be removed, they may send their roots deep down into an eternal abiding place by falling in with the conditions laid down by Christ Himself in Mat_5:24-25.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
Established may have reference not to the stability of his fortunes, but to that of his mind—to tranquil self-possession and firmness. Even if, in the providence of God, his substance should fail, he himself remains unshaken and entire in all his best blessings, and in all his hopes.—Wardlaw.
A man, being wicked, how shall he expect anything, except that he shall be disturbed? While the saint, though “shaken” in leaf and bough, and storm-tossed, and, perhaps, broken in his branches, yet “shall not be shaken” in his “root.”—Miller.
Ahab strove to establish himself in despite of the threatened curse of God. He increased his family, trained them with care under the tutelage of his choicest nobility. And surely one, at least, out of seventy, might remain to inherit his throne. But this was the vain “striving” of the worm “with his Maker.” One hour swept them all away (1Ki_21:21, with 2Ki_10:1-7). The device of Caiaphas, also, to establish his nation by wickedness, was the means of its overthrow (Joh_11:49-50, with Mat_21:43-44).—Bridges.
A man shall not be established by wickedness, for he lays his foundation upon firework, and brimstone is scattered upon his housetop: if the fire of God from heaven but flash upon it, it will all be aflame immediately. He walks all day upon a mine of gunpowder; and hath God with His armies ready to run upon the thickest bosses of his buckler, and to hurl him to hell. How can this man be sure of anything? Cain built cities, but could not rest in them; Ahab begat seventy sons, but not one successor to the kingdom. Sin hath no settledness. But the righteous, though shaken with winds, are rooted as trees; like a ship at anchor, they wag up and down, yet remove not.—Trapp.
We shall lose our labour in seeking any sinful helps. We shall but make quicksand our foundation, and mud our stonework, and stubble and reeds our strongest timber. It is time for us to pull down our own ruinous building, lest it fall upon our heads. For though it be so slight, and as weak as a cobweb, to be a cover over us, yet it is very heavy, and as weighty as a mountain to press us under it.—Dod.
Many are established in wickedness, and cannot be removed from it, but none shall ever be established by it.—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. 3. A man shall not be established by…
v. 3. A man shall not be established by wickedness, the prosperity of such a one will not be lasting, nor will it give him true happiness; but the root of the righteous shall not be moved; as their faith is rooted in Jehovah, their foundation is secure.
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 A person cannot be established by wickedness
A person cannot be established by wickedness
This can be stated in active form. AT: "No one can become safe and secure by doing what is wicked" (See: Active or Passive)
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cannot be uprooted
"Uprooted" represents being pulled out of the ground like a plant or a tree. This cannot happen to those who do right. AT: "are as stable as a tree with deep roots" (See: Metaphor and Active or Passive)
A worthy wife is her husband's crown
A crown represents the greatest honor a person can receive. AT: "A good wife is a sign of great honor for her husband" (See: Metaphor)
she who brings shame is like a disease that rots his bones
A disease that rots the bones represents the spoiling of a person's life. AT: "a wife's shameful acts destroy her husband's influence and happiness" (See: Simile)
translationWords
evil
worthy
crown
shame
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.