Proverbs 21:18
in Proverbs 21The wicked become a ransom for the righteous, and the faithless for the upright.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
The wicked is a ransom for the righteous; And the treacherous cometh in the stead of the upright.
KJV
The wicked shall be a ransom for the righteous, and the transgressor for the upright.
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This verse in Proverbs 21
Commentary
7 notes on this verseThis site's exposition
He who loves pleasure will become poor
on Proverbs 21:17-18
"The wicked become a ransom for the righteous, and the faithless for the upright," a line that reads oddly against ordinary justice. It reads as providence, the wicked man's schemes working out in the course of events to the advantage of the righteous he meant to harm.
This site's exposition
The wicked become a ransom for the righteous
That the wicked become a ransom reads oddly against ordinary justice. The older writers take it as providence, the schemes of the wicked turning in events to the good of the upright they meant to harm. They keep ransom apart from atonement.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
The impious is given in place of the just, etc. The just and the upright seem to be the same; but there is a difference between the impious and the iniquitous, for all the iniquitous are reprobates; the impious, however, are those who, entangled in …
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
The wicked shall be a ransom for the righteous,....
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
By suffering what they had devised for the righteous, or brought on them, the wicked became their ransom, in the usual sense of substitutes (compare Jos 7:26;
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
The wicked shall be a ransom for the righteous - God often in his judgments cuts off the wicked, in order to prevent them from destroying the righteous. And in general, we find that the wicked fall into the traps and pits they have digged for the righteous.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Compare the marginal reference. Evil doers seem to draw down the wrath of God upon their heads, and so become, as it were, the scapegoats of the comparatively righteous.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
shall be a poor man He who loves the joy of always banqueting.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 4 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| כֹּ֣פֶר | kofer | [is] a ransom | H3724 → | 17 times |
| לַצַּדִּ֣יק | latzadik | for the righteous [person] | H6662 → | 206 times |
| רָשָׁ֑ע | rasha' | a wicked [person] | H7563 → | 263 times |
| וְתַ֖חַת | vetachat | and in place of | H8478 → | 505 times |
| יְשָׁרִ֣ים | yesharim | upright [people] | H3477 → | 119 times |
| בּוֹגֵֽד׃ | boged | [one who] acts treacherously | H898 → | 49 times |
כֹּ֣פֶר[is] a ransom
koferH3724 →17 times
לַצַּדִּ֣יקfor the righteous [person]
latzadikH6662 →206 times
רָשָׁ֑עa wicked [person]
rasha'H7563 →263 times
וְתַ֖חַתand in place of
vetachatH8478 →505 times
יְשָׁרִ֣יםupright [people]
yesharimH3477 →119 times
בּוֹגֵֽד׃[one who] acts treacherously
bogedH898 →49 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 Peter 3:18For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit,
it leads to
- Hebrews 9:28
so also Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many; and He will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who eagerly await Him.
- Hebrews 9:26
Otherwise, Christ would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But now He has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by…
- 2 Corinthians 5:21
God made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.
- 1 Peter 4:6
That is why the gospel was preached even to those who are now dead, so that they might be judged as men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.
- Titus 2:14
He gave Himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.
- Hebrews 9:28
Through
Proverbs 11:8The righteous man is delivered from trouble; in his place the wicked man goes in.
it leads to
- Daniel 6:23–24
The king was overjoyed and gave orders to lift Daniel out of the den, and when Daniel was lifted out of the den, no wounds whatsoever were found on him, because he had trusted…
- Esther 7:9–10
Then Harbonah, one of the eunuchs attending the king, said: “There is a gallows fifty cubits high at Haman’s house. He had it built for Mordecai, who gave the report that saved the king.”…
- Isaiah 43:3–4
For I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior; I give Egypt for your ransom, Cush and Seba in your place.
- Daniel 6:23–24
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Proverbs
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Bede, Commentary on Proverbs; Charles Bridges, An Exposition of the Book of Proverbs; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.