Proverbs 2:14
in Proverbs 2from those who enjoy doing evil and rejoice in the twistedness of evil,
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Who rejoice to do evil, And delight in the perverseness of evil;
KJV
Who rejoice to do evil, and delight in the frowardness of the wicked;
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This verse in Proverbs 2
Commentary
6 notes on this verseFor seeing the city, he wept over it, saying: If you had known, even you. This he did once, when he announced that the city would perish. This our Redeemer never ceases to do daily through his elect, when he considers that certain people have passed from a good life to wicked ways. For he mourns those who do not know why they are mourned, because, according to the words of Solomon: They rejoice when they have done evil and exult in the worst things.
This site's exposition
To deliver thee from the way of the evil man
on Proverbs 2:12-15
To deliver thee from the way of the evil man names the first of the chapter's two deliverances, a man defined first by his speech, froward things, before anything else is said of him. Who leave the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness pictures a deliberate departure rather than an accident of upbringing, men who once knew the right paths and left them, rejoicing to do evil and delighting in frowardness rather than merely tolerating it. Whose ways are crooked closes the portrait with the book's standing image of the road, the evil man's whole manner of life bent rather than straight.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
Who rejoice when they have done evil, etc. Therefore, they who do evil rejoice because they walk in dark ways and do not know where they are going. For if they saw that they were heading toward punishments, they would certainly restrain their step and …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
It is sport to fools to do mischief; nor is any sight more grateful to them than to see the frowardness of the wicked, to see those that are hopeful drawn into the ways of sin, and then to see them hardened and confirmed in those ways. They are pleased if they can discern that the devil's kingdom gets ground (see Rom. i.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
Who rejoice to do evil,....
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
and that with pleasure, in ignorance of good and pursuit of evil. frowardness--Not only their own perversity, but that of others is their delight. They love most the worst things.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
The words behind it
6 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| הַ֭שְּׂמֵחִים | hasemechim | the [ones] joyful | H8056 → | 21 times |
| לַעֲשׂ֥וֹת | laasot | to do | H6213 → | 2628 times |
| רָ֑ע | ra' | evil | H7451 → | 662 times |
| יָ֝גִ֗ילוּ | yagilu | they exult | H1523 → | 45 times |
| בְּֽתַהְפֻּכ֥וֹת | betahpukhot | in perverse things of | H8419 → | 10 times |
| רָֽע׃ | ra' | evil | H7451 → | 662 times |
הַ֭שְּׂמֵחִיםthe [ones] joyful
hasemechimH8056 →21 times
לַעֲשׂ֥וֹתto do
laasotH6213 →2628 times
רָ֑עevil
ra'H7451 →662 times
יָ֝גִ֗ילוּthey exult
yagiluH1523 →45 times
בְּֽתַהְפֻּכ֥וֹתin perverse things of
betahpukhotH8419 →10 times
רָֽע׃evil
ra'H7451 →662 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
1 Corinthians 13:6Love takes no pleasure in evil, but rejoices in the truth.
it leads to
- Romans 12:9
Love must be sincere. Detest what is evil; cling to what is good.
- 3 John 1:3–4
For I was overjoyed when the brothers came and testified about your devotion to the truth, in which you continue to walk.
- 2 John 1:4
I was overjoyed to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as the Father has commanded us.
- Romans 1:32
Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things are worthy of death, they not only continue to do these things, but also approve of those who practice them.
- Hosea 4:8
They feed on the sins of My people and set their hearts on iniquity.
- Romans 12:9
Through
Romans 1:32Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things are worthy of death, they not only continue to do these things, but also approve of those who practice them.
it leads to
- Romans 2:1–5
You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on another. For on whatever grounds you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things.
- Romans 1:21
For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him, but they became futile in their thinking and darkened in their foolish hearts.
- Romans 6:21
What fruit did you reap at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? The outcome of those things is death.
- Romans 2:1–5
About Proverbs
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Bede, Commentary on Proverbs; Gregory the Dialogist, 40 Homilies on the Gospels, Homily 39; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.