Proverbs 10:24

24 What the wicked dread will overtake them; what the righteous desire will be granted.

Proverbs 10:24 in Other Translations

24 The fear of the wicked, it shall come upon him: but the desire of the righteous shall be granted.

24 What the wicked dreads will come upon him, but the desire of the righteous will be granted.

24 The fears of the wicked will be fulfilled; the hopes of the godly will be granted.

24 The nightmares of the wicked come true; what the good people desire, they get.

24 What the wicked dreads will come to him, but what the righteous desires will be given to him.

Proverbs 10:24 Meaning and Commentary

Proverbs 10:24

The fear of the wicked, it shall come upon him
What he dreads in his own mind will be his unhappy case, sooner or later it comes upon him; his fear of distresses, calamities, and judgments in this life, and of eternal wrath and vengeance hereafter; for the most profligate and abandoned wretches, the greatest atheists, who endeavour to work themselves up to a disbelief of a God and a future state, have at times their frights and fears about these things; and as are their fears of God, so will his wrath be, ( Psalms 90:11 ) . Jarchi illustrates this in the instance of the builders of Babel, who were afraid of being scattered upon the face of the earth, which thing feared came upon them through and for their building of the tower; and so it sometimes is, that the very thing which men fear comes upon them by the means which they take to prevent it; so the Jews were afraid that if their people believed in Jesus of Nazareth, the Romans would come and seize their city and nation, and therefore endeavoured to persuade them to reject him; for which rejection of him the thing they feared came upon them; but the desire of the righteous shall be granted;
or "he shall give" {s}; that is, God shall give it; who has it in his hands or power to give it, as Jarchi's note is: what a righteous man desires from right principles, and with right views; what is for his own good and the glory of God; what he asks in faith, and with submission to the divine will, and is according to it, is sooner or later, in God's own time and way, granted unto him: particularly his desires after righteousness; after the righteousness of Christ, and to be found alone in that, living and dying; after holiness of heart and life, that he might be cleansed and kept from sin, and preserved to the coming of Christ; after more grace, an increase of it, and fresh supplies from Christ; after more communion with God and Christ, and conformity to them; after glory and happiness, and a being with them to all eternity. Some understand this of the righteous man's desire upon the wicked; that his fear might come upon him, and the glory of divine justice appear in his swift and sudden destruction; as expressed in ( Proverbs 10:25 ) ; so Aben Ezra.

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FOOTNOTES:

F19 (Nty) "dabit", Pagninus, Montanus, Baynus; "justis dat quod cupiunt", Tigurine version; "dabit Deus", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Michaelis; "dat Deus", Mercerus, Gejerus.

Proverbs 10:24 In-Context

22 The blessing of the LORD brings wealth, without painful toil for it.

23 A fool finds pleasure in wicked schemes, but a person of understanding delights in wisdom.

24 What the wicked dread will overtake them; what the righteous desire will be granted.

25 When the storm has swept by, the wicked are gone, but the righteous stand firm forever.

26 As vinegar to the teeth and smoke to the eyes, so are sluggards to those who send them.

Cross References

• 1. Isaiah 65:7; Isaiah 66:4
• 2. S Genesis 42:36
• 3. S Psalms 37:4; Psalms 145:17-19; Ezekiel 11:8; Matthew 5:6; 1 John 5:14-15