Proverbs 11:18

18 Bad work gets paid with a bad check; good work gets solid pay.

Proverbs 11:18 Meaning and Commentary

Proverbs 11:18

The wicked worketh a deceitful work
Such a wicked man as before described; that neither enjoys the good things of life he has, nor suffers others to enjoy them; and all to accumulate riches, which are deceitful and perishing; and who abstains from meats, which God has created for use, under a pretence of religion, and so deceives his own soul; and indeed every sin which a wicked man commits is a deceitful work; it promises him that pleasure, or profit, or liberty, which it does not give him, and in the issue is the ruin of him; and so all false doctrines, propagated by deceitful workers, are deceitful works, by which they deceive the simple, and at last themselves; they "obtain a deceitful reward of [their] work", as Gussetius ^F23 renders it; but to him that soweth righteousness;
does acts of beneficence and liberality; see ( 2 Corinthians 9:9 2 Corinthians 9:10 ) ; and all other good works, or works of righteousness, [shall be] a sure reward;
according to what a man sows, and the manner in which he sows, so shall he reap, ( 2 Corinthians 9:6 ) ( Galatians 6:8 ) ; or, "a reward of truth"; instead of being given up to believe a lie, he shall receive the love of the truth, and abide in it, which will bring him to eternal glory and happiness; he being chosen to it through sanctification of the Spirit, and belief of the truth, ( 2 Thessalonians 2:10-13 ) ; and, instead of a deceitful reward, shall have a true, real, solid, and substantial one.

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FOOTNOTES:

F23 Ebr. Comment. p. 692.

Proverbs 11:18 In-Context

16 A woman of gentle grace gets respect, but men of rough violence grab for loot. A God-Shaped Life

17 When you're kind to others, you help yourself; when you're cruel to others, you hurt yourself.

18 Bad work gets paid with a bad check; good work gets solid pay.

19 Take your stand with God's loyal community and live, or chase after phantoms of evil and die.

20 God can't stand deceivers, but oh how he relishes integrity.