Key Verse Spotlight
Proverbs 11:21 - Meaning and Application
Understand how this verse speaks to what you're facing and how to apply it today
Translation: World English Bible — Catholic Edition
" Most certainly, the evil man will not be unpunished, but the offspring of the righteous will be delivered. "
Proverbs 11:21
Verse in Context
Understanding the surrounding verses prevents misinterpretation:
19 He who is truly righteous gets life. He who pursues evil gets death.
20 Those who are perverse in heart are an abomination to the LORD, but those whose ways are blameless are his delight.
21 Most certainly, the evil man will not be unpunished, but the offspring of the righteous will be delivered.
22 Like a gold ring in a pig’s snout, is a beautiful woman who lacks discretion.
23 The desire of the righteous is only good. The expectation of the wicked is wrath.
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Observe, first, that alliances in sin will certainly be broken and will not protect sinners. Even if many people join together to support wickedness, and even if they agree to stand by one another against truth and justice, that will not save them from God’s judgment. It will not help them to say they did what most people did, or what their friends did. They will not go unpunished, as the flood showed when God brought judgment on a whole world of ungodly people.
Second, the family line of the righteous will certainly be blessed. The children of the righteous, if they follow in their parents’ path of righteousness, may face trouble, but they will be delivered in God’s time. Justice may seem slow in punishing the wicked, and mercy may seem slow in rescuing the righteous, but both will surely come. Sometimes even the children of the righteous, though not righteous themselves, are delivered because of their godly ancestors, as happened many times with Israel and with the house of David.
From This Chapter
Proverbs 11:1
"A false balance is an abomination to the LORD, but accurate weights are his delight."
Proverbs 11:2
"When pride comes, then comes shame, but with humility comes wisdom."
Proverbs 11:3
"The integrity of the upright shall guide them, but the perverseness of the treacherous shall destroy them."
Proverbs 11:4
"Riches don’t profit in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death."
Proverbs 11:5
"The righteousness of the blameless will direct his way, but the wicked shall fall by his own wickedness."
Proverbs 11:6
"The righteousness of the upright shall deliver them, but the unfaithful will be trapped by evil desires."
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