Key Verse Spotlight
Proverbs 11:7 - 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
" When a wicked man dies, hope perishes, and expectation of power comes to nothing. "
Proverbs 11:7
Verse in Context
Understanding the surrounding verses prevents misinterpretation:
5 The righteousness of the blameless will direct his way, but the wicked shall fall by his own wickedness.
6 The righteousness of the upright shall deliver them, but the unfaithful will be trapped by evil desires.
7 When a wicked man dies, hope perishes, and expectation of power comes to nothing.
8 A righteous person is delivered out of trouble, and the wicked takes his place.
9 With his mouth the godless man destroys his neighbor, but the righteous will be delivered through knowledge.
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Even wicked people may, while they are alive, keep a confident hope of happiness, either in this world or after death. The hypocrite has his hope, and he wraps himself in it like a spider in its web. The man who loves the world expects great things from his wealth. He thinks of it as goods laid up for many years, and hopes to rest easy and enjoy himself in it.
But death will defeat all such hopes. The worldly person must leave this world, the one he expected to stay in. The hypocrite will fall short of the world he expected to enter after death (Job 27:8). This makes the misery of wicked people even worse. Their hopes collapse into despair just when they expected to receive what they wanted.
It is very different for a godly person. When a righteous person dies, his hopes are exceeded, and all his fears disappear. But when a wicked person dies, his hopes are shattered, broken to pieces. In that very day, the thoughts he once pleased himself with perish, and his hopes vanish.
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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