The Righteous One considers the house of the wicked, and brings the wicked to ruin.
Parallel Translations
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The Righteous One considers the house of the wicked, and brings the wicked to ruin.
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The righteous man wisely considereth the house of the wicked: but God overthroweth the wicked for their wickedness.
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The Righteous One considereth the house of the wicked; overthrowing the wicked to their ruin.
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Contradictions (1)
Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
Cross-references (19)
Passages linked to Proverbs 21:12 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Psalms 37:35-36 I have seen the wicked in great power, spreading himself like a green tree in its native soil. But he passed away, and behold, he was not. Yes, I sought him, but he could not be found.
- Proverbs 14:11 The house of the wicked will be overthrown, but the tent of the upright will flourish.
- Psalms 107:43 Whoever is wise will pay attention to these things. They will consider the loving kindnesses of Yahweh.
- 2 Peter 3:6-7 by which means the world that existed then, being overflowed with water, perished. But the heavens that exist now and the earth, by the same word have been stored up for fire, being reserved against the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.
- Job 5:3 I have seen the foolish taking root, but suddenly I cursed his habitation.
- Job 8:15 He will lean on his house, but it will not stand. He will cling to it, but it will not endure.
- Psalms 52:5 God will likewise destroy you forever. He will take you up, and pluck you out of your tent, and root you out of the land of the living.
- Proverbs 11:3-5 The integrity of the upright shall guide them, but the perverseness of the treacherous shall destroy them. Riches don’t profit in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death. The righteousness of the blameless will direct his way, but the wicked shall fall by his own wickedness.
- Proverbs 14:32 The wicked is brought down in his calamity, but in death, the righteous has a refuge.
- Hosea 14:9 Who is wise, that he may understand these things? Who is prudent, that he may know them? For the ways of Yahweh are right, and the righteous walk in them; But the rebellious stumble in them.
- Amos 4:11 “I have overthrown some of you, as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and you were like a burning stick plucked out of the fire; yet you haven’t returned to me,” says Yahweh.
- 1 Corinthians 10:5 However with most of them, God was not well pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness.
- 2 Peter 2:4-9 For if God didn’t spare angels when they sinned, but cast them down to Tartarus, and committed them to pits of darkness to be reserved for judgment; and didn’t spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah with seven others, a preacher of righteousness, when he brought a flood on the world of the ungodly; and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to destruction, having made them an example to those who would live in an ungodly way; and delivered righteous Lot, who was very distressed by the lustful life of the wicked (for that righteous man dwelling among them was tormented in his righteous soul from day to day with seeing and hearing lawless deeds): the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptation and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment,
- Genesis 19:29 When God destroyed the cities of the plain, God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the middle of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in which Lot lived.
- Job 18:14-21 He will be rooted out of the security of his tent. He will be brought to the king of terrors. There will dwell in his tent that which is none of his. Sulfur will be scattered on his habitation. His roots will be dried up beneath. His branch will be cut off above. His memory will perish from the earth. He will have no name in the street. He will be driven from light into darkness, and chased out of the world. He will have neither son nor grandson among his people, nor any remaining where he lived. Those who come after will be astonished at his day, as those who went before were frightened. Surely such are the dwellings of the unrighteous. This is the place of him who doesn’t know God.”
- Job 21:28-30 For you say, ‘Where is the house of the prince? Where is the tent in which the wicked lived?’ Haven’t you asked wayfaring men? Don’t you know their evidences, that the evil man is reserved to the day of calamity, That they are led out to the day of wrath?
- Proverbs 13:6 Righteousness guards the way of integrity, but wickedness overthrows the sinner.
- Habakkuk 2:9-12 Woe to him who gets an evil gain for his house, that he may set his nest on high, that he may be delivered from the hand of evil! You have devised shame to your house, by cutting off many peoples, and have sinned against your soul. For the stone will cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the woodwork will answer it. Woe to him who builds a town with blood, and establishes a city by iniquity!
- Job 27:13-23 “This is the portion of a wicked man with God, the heritage of oppressors, which they receive from the Almighty. If his children are multiplied, it is for the sword. His offspring will not be satisfied with bread. Those who remain of him will be buried in death. His widows will make no lamentation. 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. He lies down rich, but he will not do so again. He opens his eyes, and he is not. Terrors overtake him like waters. A storm steals him away in the night. The east wind carries him away, and he departs. It sweeps him out of his place. For it hurls at him, and does not spare, as he flees away from his hand. Men will clap their hands at him, and will hiss him out of his place.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (18 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Though the godly admonish them both by words and…
Though the godly admonish them both by words and example of life, yet the wicked will not amend, till God destroy them.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Pro 21:12 The righteous [man] wisely considereth the house…
Pro 21:12 The righteous [man] wisely considereth the house of the wicked: [but God] overthroweth the wicked for [their] wickedness.
Ver. 12. The righteous man wisely considereth, &c.] He foreseeth its fearful fall, and is not offended at their present prosperity; for God, he knows, will shortly overturn it. This consideration cures him of the fret, as it did David {Psa 37:1-2} It doth also instruct him in many points of heavenly wisdom, as it did the Church. {Isa 26:11 1Co 10:11} The destruction of others should be an instruction to us, that we may wash our feet in the blood of the wicked. {Psa 52:6}
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 Wisely considereth the house of the wicked; he looketh…
Wisely considereth the house of the wicked; he looketh through its present power and glory (which dazzleth the eyes of others) unto that ruin to which it is designed. But, or now, or that, this being the thing which he wisely considereth,
God overthroweth, or will overthrow in his due time, though for a season he bear with 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 1. As we read this verse, it shows why…
1. As we read this verse, it shows why good men, when they come to understand things aright, will not envy the prosperity of evil-doers. When they see the house of the wicked, how full it is perhaps of all the good things of this life, they are tempted to envy; but when they wisely consider it, when they look upon it with an eye of faith, when they see God overthrowing the wicked for their wickedness, that there is a curse upon their habitation which will certainly be the ruin of it ere long, they see more reason to despise them, or pity them, than to fear or envy them. 2. Some give another sense of it: The righteous man (the judge or magistrate, that is entrusted with the execution of justice, and the preservation of public peace) examines the house of the wicked, searches it for arms or for stolen goods, makes a diligent enquiry concerning his family and the characters of those about him, that he may by his power overthrow the wicked for their wickedness and prevent their doing any further mischief, that he may fire the nests where the birds of prey are harboured or the unclean birds.
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 man wisely considereth the house of the…
The righteous man wisely considereth the house of the wicked,.... Not so much the stately palace he lives in, and the furniture of it, as the glory, splendour, riches, and largeness of his family; the flourishing condition he and they are in: he considers how they came into it, the short continuance of it, and what the end will be, which in a short time wilt be ruin and destruction; and therefore be does not envy their present happiness, or fret at it. Gersom renders it,
"the righteous maketh the house of the wicked to prosper;''
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as Joseph did Potiphar's, and Jacob Laban's; or rather the Lord made them to prosper for their sakes. Jarchi interprets the righteous of God himself; who gives his heart, or has it in his heart to cut off the house of the wicked, as follows;
but God overthroweth the wicked for their wickedness; or removes them into evil, as the Targum; into the evil of punishment, for the evil of sin. Aben Ezra supplies the word "God", as we do; and understands it of God's destroying wicked men for their sins, though they have flourished for a while in this world: but some interpret it of the righteous man, even of a righteous magistrate, who is prudent and diligent in his office; who looks into the houses of wicked men, and inquires who they are that are in them, and how they live; and what they have in their houses, whether stolen goods, the properties of others; or arms, either for treasonable practices or for robberies; and takes them and punishes them according to the laws of God and men.
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 Considereth - He looks through its present glory to…
Considereth - He looks through its present glory to that ruin for which it is designed.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 12. The righteous man wisely considereth] This verse…
Verse 12. The righteous man wisely considereth] This verse is understood as implying the pious concern of a righteous man, for a wicked family, whom he endeavours by his instructions to bring into the way of knowledge and peace.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Or, The Righteous One (Yahweh) regardeth well the house…
Or, The Righteous One (Yahweh) regardeth well the house of the wicked, and maketh the wicked fall into mischief.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Charles Bridges 1846 · Public Domain The punishment of the wicked reads a lesson not…
The punishment of the wicked reads a lesson not only of love and trembling, but of wise consideration. Yet many are the perplexing mysteries of Providence. The righteous man does not always see with his right eyes. The prosperity of the wicked staggers his faith, excites his envy, and induces hard thoughts of God. (Psa 73:2-14 .) But when he looks with the eye of faith, he sees far beyond the dazzling glory of the present moment. He wisely considereth their house; not its external splendor and appurtenances, but how it will end. He justifies God, and puts himself to shame. (Psa 73:16-22 .) "Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?" (Gen 18:25 .) Here we rest, until he shall "arise and plead his own cause," and "with the breath of his mouth, and the brightness of his coming, destroy"†1 the very existence of evil. Meanwhile, where the superficial eye sees nothing but confusion, let the righteous man wisely consider lessons of deep and practical profit. The shortness of the prosperity,†2 and the certainty of the overthrow, of the wicked;†3 the assurance of a day of recompense;†4 the contrast of the substance of the godly for time and for eternity†5 — these are the apprehensions of faith. Do they not marvelously set out the perfections of God, and call to each of his children — "My son, give glory to God"?
Footnotes:
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†1 Psa 74:22; Psa 82:8 . 2Th 2:8 .
†2 Job 20:4-5. Psa 37:35-36 .
†3 Pro 12:7; Pro 13:3-6 ; Pro 15:25 . 2Pe 2:4-9 .
†4 Job 21:28-30. Psa 58:10-11 .
†5 Job 22:15-20. Psa 73:23-26 .
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 Evil. He tries every expedient to save him. ---…
Evil. He tries every expedient to save him. --- That. Septuagint, "he despises." Symmachus, "throws down."
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 (Compare Psa 37:35-38; Psa 73:17, Psa 73:20).
(Compare Psa 37:35-38; Psa 73:17, Psa 73:20).
house--family or interests.
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overthroweth--either supply "God" (compare Pro 10:24), or the word is used impersonally.
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 12. The righteous — Either the “righteous” man, as…
12. The righteous — Either the “righteous” man, as our version, or the “righteous” God, as others interpret the passage. There is nothing in the original to determine the reading. “The Just One.” — Conant. Patrick understands it of magistrates. There is a general consent of the critics on the sense thus: “The Righteous One considers the house of the wicked.” The Judge of all the earth is not unmindful of the evil doers.
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 12. God overthroweth] The difficulty of this proverb lies…
12. God overthroweth] The difficulty of this proverb lies in the elliptical character of the second clause, which leaves a subject of necessity to be supplied. The A.V. makes man the subject of the first clause, and God of the second. But it is better to render, either with R.V. text:
The righteous man considereth the house of the wicked;
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How the wicked are overthrown to their ruin;
or with Ewald and others, and R.V. marg., taking the Righteous One in the first clause to be God (Job_34:17), and retaining the same subject throughout.
One that is righteous considereth the house of the wicked;
He overthroweth the wicked to their ruin.
Both LXX. and Vulg., though differing from one another and from our present Heb. text, make “the righteous” the subject of both clauses.
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.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (12) The righteous man wisely considereth the house of…
(12) The righteous man wisely considereth the house of the wicked.—Rather, A Righteous one (God) marks the house of the wicked and overthroweth the wicked for (their) destruction. He watches the evil to see whether they will repent (Luk_13:8), and if they will not, at last overthrows them when their iniquity has become full (Gen_15:16).
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 The righteous man wisely considereth the house of the…
The righteous man wisely considereth the house of the wicked: but God overthroweth the wicked for their wickedness. The Authorized Version introduces the words "but God" in order to eke out the sense desired; the Revised Version, for the same reason, has, "how the wicked are overthrown;" and both versions signify that the good man contemplates the fortunes and seeming prosperity of the wicked, and, looking to the end of these men, sees how hollow is their success and what a fatal issue awaits them. The Vulgate refers the passage to the zeal of the righteous for the salvation of sinners a thought quite foreign to the present subject thus: Excogitat justus de domo impii, ut detrahat impios a malo, "The righteous man reflects concerning the house of the wicked how he may deliver them from evil. " The Hebrew is literally, A righteous one looketh on the house of the wicked: he precipitates the wicked to destruction. There is no change of subject in the two clauses, and "a righteous One" (tsaddik) is God, put indeterminately to excite the greater awe. (comp. Job_34:17) The Lord keeps the sinners under his eye, that he may punish them at the fit moment. (comp. Pro_22:12Jo Pro_12:19) The notion of God"s moral government of the universe prevails most strongly in every pronouncement of the writer. The LXX interprets "the house" as heart and conscience, and renders, "A righteous man understands the hearts of the godless, and despises the impious in their wickednesses;" he sees through their outward felicity, knows well its unreality, and despises them for the low aims and pursuits which satisfy them.
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 Pro_21:12. The words man and God are both supplied…
CRITICAL NOTES.—
Pro_21:12. The words man and God are both supplied by the translators. The verse should be “The righteous considereth the house of the wicked (and) overthroweth, etc. Some understand it, therefore, to mean “The righteous man gives instruction to the house of the wicked to turn them away from evil.” But Stuart remarks that the verb of the second clause is a very strong word, to precipitate, to cast down headlong, and refers the righteous (one) of the first clause to God. This is Zöckler’s rendering also.
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MAIN HOMILETICS OF Pro_21:12
GOD’S SURVEILLANCE OF THE WICKED
We follow here the rendering now generally given of this verse. (See Critical Notes.)
I. We have a reference to a mystery in the government of God. It is mysterious that the wicked are permitted to live at large—to pursue their plans and carry on their iniquitous work. Under human governors, men who break the laws of the State and endanger life and property are not allowed to have liberty. If they are permitted to live, they live under restraint—their activities are confined within narrow limits, and so their power to do mischief is taken from them. The prisons scattered throughout our land declare that our rulers only permit those who break our laws to have a very narrow sphere of action; they live where all their freedom is taken from them, and where their rule of life is not their own will but that of others. But God allows those who break His laws a larger amount of freedom—He permits them to mingle freely with righteous men, and to exercise their influence upon the world, and to carry out designs which are often in defiance of His commands. This has often perplexed the good in the world, and they have again and again asked the question, “Wherefore do the wicked live—become old; yea, are mighty in power?” (Job_21:7.)
II. The wicked living thus at large have God for a sentinel. There are many men living at large who are known to be dangerous characters—who, although they do not come within the reach of the law, are known to cherish feelings and intentions which are antagonistic to it. Such people need a more vigilant supervision than those in the prison cells, just because their freedom is greater. An ordinary man can watch a criminal who is secure in a prison, but much greater watchfulness and skill is needed to supervise the actions of one at liberty. Every house of the wicked contains a lawbreaker at liberty, and often one house contains many such who have a large amount of freedom in the execution of their wicked designs. God is the only Being capable of being the sentinel over such a house. They need one who knows the heart as only God knows it—one who sees all their plans before they become actions. They need a sleepless sentinel—one who can be awake at all hours, and so can never be taken by surprise. And this they have in God. None enters or departs from the house of the wicked, and no plot is concocted within it that is not marked by this everwakeful sentinel. The wicked have what it is indispensable they should have—an omniscient and omnipresent eye ever upon them.
III. After the watch has been kept for a given time, the house is marked for falling. We know why God gives such men freedom, for He has told us. It is that they shall have opportunities of repentance—that they “shall turn from their way and live” (Eze_33:11). He spares the house of the godless, for the same reason that the vine-dresser desired that the fruitless fig-tree should be spared (Luk_13:6-9). He gives men time to bring forth fruits of holiness, to their own profit and to His glory. So He considered the house of the sinners, before the flood. His “longsuffering waited while the ark was a preparing” (1Pe_3:20) for some tokens of a change of disposition towards Himself, and consequently towards His laws. But none came, and so the day came when the flood came, and swept away both the houses and their inhabitants. So He considered the house of the Jewish nation, after the death of Christ. In the days of John the Baptist, the “axe was laid unto the root of the tree” (Mat_3:10), but the hand was not lifted to strike, until the rejection of the Messiah, and of the ministry of His apostles, had proved that there was no hope of a moral change. The wicked shall be overthrown, but God considereth their house long before He gives the final blow.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
(It will be seen that these read the verse as in our version.)
The punishment of the wicked reads a lesson not only of love and trembling, but of wise consideration. Yet many are the perplexing mysteries of Providence. The righteous man does not always see with his right eyes. The prosperity of the wicked staggers his faith, excites his envy, and induces hard thoughts of God. (Psa_73:2-14.) But when he looks with the eye of faith, he sees far beyond the dazzling glory of the present moment. He wisely considereth their house; not its external splendour and appurtenances, but how it will end. He justifies God, and puts himself to shame, (Ib. Pro_21:16-22.) “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” (Gen_18:25.) Here we rest, until He shall “arise, and plead His own cause,” and “with the breath of His mouth, and the brightness of His coming, destroy” the very existence of evil. Meanwhile, where the superficial eye sees nothing but confusion, let the righteous man wisely consider lessons of deep and practical profit. The shortness of the prosperity, and the certainty of the overthrow, of the wicked; the assurance of a day of recompense; the contrast of the substance of the godly for time and for eternity—these are the apprehensions of faith. Do they not marvellously set out the perfections of God, and call to each of His children—“My son, give glory to God?”—Bridges.
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. 12. The righteous man wisely considereth the house…
v. 12. The righteous man wisely considereth the house of the wicked, the reference evidently being to God, who marks the house of the ungodly, noting every sign of wickedness, every deed of violence; but God overthroweth the wicked for their wickedness, He plunges them into misfortune and destruction.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 21:12 The Righteous One: God sees what the wicked…
21:12 The Righteous One: God sees what the wicked do in the privacy of their homes and will punish them for their sins. Alternatively, the Righteous One might refer to the insight of any righteous individual.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.