Proverbs 10:16

16 The wage of the righteous [leads] to life; the gain of the wicked to sin.

Proverbs 10:16 Meaning and Commentary

Proverbs 10:16

The labour of the righteous [tendeth] to life
To natural life, and the support of it; all that he labours for is to get a livelihood for himself and family; that is all he desires, nor does he seek great things for himself: or to spiritual life; so his spiritual exercises in praying, reading, and hearing the word, and waiting upon ordinances, have a tendency to promote and maintain a spiritual life in him: or to eternal life; not that the works of a righteous man (so the Targum, Septuagint, and Arabic versions, render it in the plural number) are meritorious of eternal life; for life and righteousness are not to be had by the works of men, but by the grace of God; yet, as the righteous man labours for the meat which endures to everlasting life, given by the Son of God, his labour may be said to tend to life eternal, ( John 6:27 ) ; the fruit of the wicked to sin;
whatever he enjoys, whether got by labour; though the word seems purposely omitted, as some observe, to signify that is not intended; or whether left him as an inheritance; or whatever way acquired, lawfully or unlawfully; all his revenues and riches, the increase of his substance and fields, are all used to sinful purposes, to pride, luxury, and wantonness; and so tend to death, even death eternal, the just wages of sin.

Proverbs 10:16 In-Context

14 Those who are wise lay up knowledge, but [to] the mouth of the fool, ruin draws near.

15 The wealth of the rich [is] the city of his strength; the ruin of the poor [is] their poverty.

16 The wage of the righteous [leads] to life; the gain of the wicked to sin.

17 [On] the path to life is he who guards instruction, but he who rejects rebuke goes astray.

18 He who conceals hatred [has] lips of deceit, and he who utters slander--he is a fool.