Key Verse Spotlight
Proverbs 21:15 - 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
" It is joy to the righteous to do justice; but it is a destruction to the workers of iniquity. "
Proverbs 21:15
Verse in Context
Understanding the surrounding verses prevents misinterpretation:
13 Whoever stops his ears at the cry of the poor, he will also cry out, but shall not be heard.
14 A gift in secret pacifies anger, and a bribe in the cloak, strong wrath.
15 It is joy to the righteous to do justice; but it is a destruction to the workers of iniquity.
16 The man who wanders out of the way of understanding shall rest in the assembly of the departed spirits.
17 He who loves pleasure will be a poor man. He who loves wine and oil won’t be rich.
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Good people are glad to see justice carried out by the government they live under. They rejoice when what is right is upheld and evil is held back. They also take pleasure in practicing justice themselves, as far as their own place and calling allow. They do not do right only out of fear of shame, but because they love what is good.
Wicked people, however, are frightened when laws are enforced against vice and godlessness. That kind of justice is a ruin to them. It also troubles them when they are forced, whether to protect their reputation or to avoid punishment, to act justly themselves. Or, if we read the verse as it stands, the sense is this: there is real joy in living rightly, but every sinful path ends in certain destruction.
From This Chapter
Proverbs 21:1
"The king’s heart is in the LORD’s hand like the watercourses. He turns it wherever he desires."
Proverbs 21:2
"Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the LORD weighs the hearts."
Proverbs 21:3
"To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice."
Proverbs 21:4
"A high look and a proud heart, the lamp of the wicked, is sin."
Proverbs 21:5
"The plans of the diligent surely lead to profit; and everyone who is hasty surely rushes to poverty."
Proverbs 21:6
"Getting treasures by a lying tongue is a fleeting vapor for those who seek death."
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