Proverbs 18:3

3 Do something evil, and people won't like you. Do something shameful, and they will make fun of you.

Proverbs 18:3 Meaning and Commentary

Proverbs 18:3

When the wicked cometh, [then] cometh also contempt
When he comes into the world, as Aben Ezra; as soon as he is born, he is liable to contempt, being born in sin; but this is true of all: rather, as the Vulgate Latin, and with which the Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic versions agree, when he cometh into the depth of sin, or to the height of his wickedness; he commences a scoffer at, and condemner of all that is good: when he comes into the house of God, it may be said, "there comes contempt"; for he comes not to hear the word, in order to receive any profit by it, but to contemn it, and the ministers of it; and with ignominy reproach:
or, "with the ignominious man reproach" {l}: he that despises all that is good, and treats divine things in a ludicrous way, will not spare to reproach the best of men, and speak evil of them falsely, for the sake of religion. Or the meaning of the whole is, that wicked men, sooner or later, come into contempt, ignominy, and reproach, themselves; they that despise the Lord are lightly esteemed by him; and a vile person is contemned in the eyes of a good man: such bring shame and disgrace upon themselves and families while they live; and, when they die, they are laid in the grave with dishonour; an infamy rests upon their memories, and they wilt rise to everlasting shame and contempt.


FOOTNOTES:

F12 (hprx Nwlq Me) "viro ignominioso, venit opprobriunu", Pagninus; "cum ignominioso probrum", Junis & Tremeilius; "cum probroso opprobrium", Schultens, so Vatablus, Mercerus, Gejerus.

Proverbs 18:3 In-Context

1 Unfriendly people are selfish and hate all good sense.
2 Fools do not want to understand anything. They only want to tell others what they think.
3 Do something evil, and people won't like you. Do something shameful, and they will make fun of you.
4 Spoken words can be like deep water, but wisdom is like a flowing stream.
5 It is not good to honor the wicked or to be unfair to the innocent.
Scripture taken from the New Century Version. Copyright © 1987, 1988, 1991 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.