Proverbs 21:7

Pro 21:7 The robbery of the wicked shall destroy them; because they refuse to do judgment.

Ver. 7. The robbery of the wicked shall destroy them.] Heb., Shall saw them: that is, shall bring upon them exquisite and extreme torments, such as the prophet Isaiah, and those martyrs {Heb 11:37} were put unto unjustly; such as Agag suffered justly, and those barbarous Ammonites. {2Sa 12:31} Some render it dissecabit eos shall cut them in twain, as that evil servant, {Luk 12:46} and those blasphemers of Daniel’s God. {Dan 3:29} Others render it, Shall abide upon them, or, Dwell with them. Their illgotten goods vanish, but their punishment remains. Their stolen venison is soon eaten up, but the shot is not yet paid; there is a sad reckoning behind. God will rake out of their bellies those tit bits - those murdering morsels. Besides that, for their last dish is served up astonishment and fearful expectation of just revenge. The Hebrew word here translated "destroy" signifies also to terrify and fear. They shall be a Magormissabib to themselves, as Pashur was, {Jer 20:3-4} running from chamber to chamber, to hide from the hand of justice - as that notable thief Bulas in the days of Severus the emperor {a} - but they shall not escape; their sin will find them out. God will pour upon them, and not spare, whether they be private thieves, or those public robbers, qui in auto et purpura visuntur, {b} as Cato once said, that are clad with purple, and have gold chains about their necks; corrupt judges, who judge for reward, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him. Such were Empson and Dudley in their generation. Such was Judge Belknap in Richard II’s days, who, being about to subscribe the articles against proceedings of parliament, said there wanted but a hurdle, a horse, and a halter to carry him where he might suffer for assenting to them. {c} And that of these public thieves Solomon chiefly speaks here we may well think by the following clause, shewing the cause of their sore and sharp punishment, because they refuse to do judgment.

{a} Dio. in Sever.

{b} Gell., lib. xi. cap. 16.

{c} Speed, p. 747.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Pro 21:7-8. The robbery of the wicked shall destroy them — The injury which they do to others shall, either by God or men, be returned upon their own heads; because they refuse to do judgment — They wilfully and obstinately give up themselves to unrighteous practices. The way of man — The course of man’s life, of the life of every man, as he is by nature, or in his corrupt state; is froward and strange — Perverse and estranged from God, and from man’s primitive integrity, and from the rule which God hath given him whereby to direct his actions, namely, reason and Scripture; but as for the pure, his work is right — His conversation, his tempers, words, and works; his designs and undertakings are agreeable to that rule.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

He meaneth this chiefly of Judges, and Princes which leave that vocation, whereunto God hath called them, and powle their subjects to maintain their lusts.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

See here, 1. The nature of injustice. Getting money by lying (Pro 21:6) is no better than downright robbery. Cheating is stealing; you might as well pick a man's pocket as impose upon him by a lie in making a bargain, which he had no fence against but by not believing you; and it will be no excuse from the guilt of robbery to say that he might choose whether he would believe you, for that is a debt we should owe to all men. 2. The cause of injustice. Men refuse to do judgment; they will not render to all their due, but withhold it, and omissions make way for commissions; they come at length to robbery itself. Those that refuse to do justice will choose to do wrong. 3. The effects of injustice; it will return upon the sinner's own head. The robbery of the wicked will terrify them (so some); their consciences will be filled with horror and amazement, will cut them, will saw them asunder (so others); it will destroy them here and for ever, therefore he had said (Pro 21:6), They seek death.

Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

robbery--or, "destruction," especially oppression, of which they are authors.

shall destroy--literally, "cut with a saw" (Kg1 7:9), that is, utterly ruin them. Their sins shall be visited on them in kind.

to do judgment--what is just and right.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 7. The robbery of the wicked] The wicked shall be terrified and ruined by the means they use to aggrandize themselves. And as they refuse to do judgment, they shall have judgment without mercy.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(7) The robbery of the wicked.—Or, their violence. See above on Pro_1:19. (Comp. Psa_9:15.)

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

7. robbery] Rather, violence.

destroy them] Rather, sweep them up, or catch them, as fishes, for example, in a net. Comp. Hab_1:15, where the same Heb. word is used.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The robbery of the wicked shall destroy them,.... Or cut them, so Ben Melech: dissect or "saw" (s) them; cut them to the heart; that is, when the sins they have been guilty of, in robbing God of his due, or doing injury to men in their properties, cheating them or stealing from them, are set home on their consciences, they are in the utmost agonies and distress; it is as if a saw was drawn to and fro over them, and will be their case for ever without true repentance: this is the worm that never dies, and the fire that is never quenched; this is everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and is very just and righteous;

because they refuse to do judgment; to do that which is just between man and man, to let everyone enjoy his own property: as it is true of private robbers, so of men in public offices, whose business it is to defend men in the quiet possession of property; which, if they refuse to do, as it is a refusal to do judgment, it is in effect a robbery of them; and will be charged on their consciences at one time or another.

(s) "dissecabit eos", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; "serrabit eos", Aben Ezra & Kimchi in Mercer. Michaelis; "gravem ipsis uterum trahit", Schultens.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Robbery - Probably the “violence” which the wicked practice.

Shall destroy them - More literally, carries them away.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

The robbery of the wicked shall destroy them; the injury which they do to others shall either by God or men be returned upon their own heads. They refuse to do judgment; they wilfully and obstinately give up themselves to unrighteous practices.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

7. Robbery — Rapacity or violence.

Shall destroy them — Sweep them sway; shall be the occasion of their destruction. Compare Pro_24:21. Refuse to do judgment — That which is just and right between man and man. The idea in the first clause is, that the violence they practised upon others shall fall upon themselves. “His violent dealing shall come down upon his own pate.” Psa_7:16. The incendiary shall be consumed in the fire which he kindles. Comp. Pro_1:18-19; Psa_34:21.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The robbery of the wicked shall destroy them; Vulgate, rapinae impiorum detrahenteos; Revised Version, "The violence of the wicked shall sweep them away," like chaff before the wind. The violence with which they treat others shall rebound on themselves, shall bring its own punishment; they shall sink in the pit that they made, and their foot shall be taken in the net which they hid. (Psa_9:15; comp. Pro_1:18, Pro_1:19) Septuagint, "Destruction shall sojourn as guest (epixenwyhsetai ) with the ungodly." The reason of this fate is given in the concluding hemistich: Because they refuse to do judgment. This is a judicial retribution on them for wilfully declining (ver. 25) to do what is right.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

7 The violence of the godless teareth them away,

For they have refused to do what is right.

The destruction which they prepare for others teareth or draggeth them away to destruction, by which wicked conduct brings punishment on itself; their own conduct is its own executioner (cf. Pro 1:19); for refusing to practise what is right, they have pronounced judgment against themselves, and fallen under condemnation. Rightly Jerome, detrahent, with Aquila, κατασπάσει = j'gurrem (as Hab 1:15), from גּרר; on the contrary, the lxx incorrectly, ἐπιξενωθήσεται, from גוּר, to dwell, to live as a guest; and the Venet., as Luther, in opposition to the usus loq.: δεδίξεται (fut. of δεδίσσεσθαι, to terrify), from גוּר, to dread, fear, which also remains intrans., with the accus. following, Deu 32:27. The Syr. and the Targ. freely: robbery (Targ. רבּוּנא, perhaps in the sense of usury) will seize them, viz., in the way of punishment. In Arab. jarr (jariyratn) means directly to commit a crime; not, as Schultens explains, admittere crimen paenam trahens, but attrahere (arripere), like (Arab.) jany (jinâytn), contrahere crimen; for there the crime is thought of as violent usurpation, here as wicked accumulation.

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

v. 7. The robbery of the wicked, the violence which they try to exert in working harm to others, shall destroy them, they are swept away as the result of their own wickedness, because they refuse to do judgment, that which is just and right before the Lord.

Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The violence of the wicked will drag them away

The writer speaks as though violence were a person who could drag other people away. God will punish wicked people who harm their innocent neighbors. (See: Personification)

violence of the wicked

The abstract noun "violence" refers to violent deeds or things people do to harm their innocent neighbors. The word "wicked" is a nominal adjective that refers to wicked people. AT: "The violent actions of wicked people" (See: Abstract Nouns and Nominal Adjectives)

drag them away

This phrase refers to dragging a net through water to catch fish. The wicked being destroyed by their own actions is spoken of as if their actions trapped them in a net like one would catch fish. AT "drag them away like fish" or "destroy them as easily as one catches fish in a net" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information and Metaphor)

The way of a guilty person is crooked

This compares the way one lives to a crooked road one may travel. This is also an idiom. AT: "The way a guilty person lives is crooked" (See: Idiom and Metaphor)

crooked

Here "crooked" means bent or not straight. This is a metaphor for morally wrong. AT: "wrong" (See: Metaphor)

translationWords

evil

just

guilt

pure

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

The plunder of the wicked frightens them Heb. יגורם, [like] יגור אותם.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.