Proverbs 23:18
in Proverbs 23For surely there is a future, and your hope will not be cut off.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
For surely there is a reward; And thy hope shall not be cut off.
KJV
For surely there is an end; and thine expectation shall not be cut off.
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This verse in Proverbs 23
Commentary
7 notes on this verseSurely there is an end - יש אחרית yesh acharith, there is another life; “and thy expectation” of the enjoyment of a blessed immortality “shall not be cut off.” The Old MS. Bible reads thus: For thou schalt hab hop in the last: and thin abiiding schal not ben taken awei. “For the ende is not yet come; and thy patient abydinge shal not be in vayne.” - Coverdale.
This site's exposition
Do not let your heart envy sinners
on Proverbs 23:17-18
"Do not let your heart envy sinners" answers the pressure that runs through the book, watching the wicked prosper. The promise that "there is a future" points to an outcome the present moment cannot show. Henry sets it beside Psalm 73, where envy dissolves by looking to the last account.
This site's exposition
surely there is a future
The future promised here answers the envy of verse 17. Adam Clarke reads the Hebrew as another life, with a hope of blessed immortality that will not be cut off. Albert Barnes renders the line as a condition about a hereafter.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Here is good advice for parents to give to their children; words are put into their mouths, that they may train them up in the way they should go. An earnest call to young people to attend to the advice of their godly parents, not only to this that is here given, but to all other profitable instructions: " Here, my son, and be wise,
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — odd-straight-quotes
For surely there is an end,....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
LAST Lord's-Day we had for our texts two promises [EverlastingLove Revealed, #2149.] I trust they were full of comfort to the tried people of God and to souls in the anguish of conviction. Today we will consider two precepts so that we may not seem to neglect any part of the Word of God, for the precept is as Divine as the promise. Here we have a command given of the Holy Spirit through the wisest of men and therefore both on the Divine and on the human side it is most weighty. I said that Solomon was the wisest of men and yet he became, in practice, the most foolish. By his folly he gained a fresh store of experience of the saddest sort and we trust that he turned to God with a penitent heart and so became wiser than ever—wiser with a second wisdom which the Grace of God had given him—to consecrate his earthly wisdom. He who had been a voluptuous prince became the wise preacher in Israel—let us give our hearts to know the wisdom which he taught. The words of Solomon to his own son are not only wise, but full of tender anxiety. They are worthy, therefore, to be set in the highest degree as to value and to be received with heartiness as the language of fatherly affection. These verses are found in the Book of Proverbs—let them pass current as Proverbs in the Church of God as they did in Israel of old. Let them be "familiar in our mouths as household words." Let them be often quoted, frequently weighed and then carried into daily practice. God grant that this particular text may become proverbial in this Church from this day forward. May the Holy Spirit impress it on every memory and heart! May it be embodied in all our lives! If you will look steadily at the text you will see, first, the prescribed course of the godly man—"Be you in the fear of the Lord all the day long." Secondly, you will note the probable interruption of that course.
LAST Lord's-Day we had for our texts two promises [EverlastingLove Revealed, #2149.] I trust they were full of comfort to the tried people of God and to souls in the anguish of conviction. Today we will consider two precepts so that we may not seem to neglect any part of the Word of God, for the precept is as Divine as the promise. Here we have a command given of the Holy Spirit through the wisest of men and therefore both on the Divine and on the human side it is most weighty.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
for because of this, there is a future Heb. כי אם. This [word] אם is used as an expression of “that”; i.e., for because of this there is a future and hope for you.
2 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
Let your heart not envy the sinners their success, to be wicked like them.
Hear you, my son, and grow wise, and walk in the way of your heart Since you will grow wise, you will be able to walk in the ways of your heart, for the heart of a wise man will not entice you to sin.
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. 3 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
7 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| כִּ֭י | ki | that | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| אִם־ | ʾim- | except | H518 → | 1069 times |
| יֵ֣שׁ | yesh | there | H3426 → | 140 times |
| אַחֲרִ֑ית | ʾacharit | [is] a future | H319 → | 61 times |
| וְ֝תִקְוָתְךָ֗ | vetikvatecha | and hope your | H8615 → | 34 times |
| לֹ֣א | lo' | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| תִכָּרֵֽת׃ | tikaret | it will be cut off | H3772 → | 288 times |
כִּ֭יthat
kiH3588 →4482 times
אִם־except
ʾim-H518 →1069 times
יֵ֣שׁthere
yeshH3426 →140 times
אַחֲרִ֑ית[is] a future
ʾacharitH319 →61 times
וְ֝תִקְוָתְךָ֗and hope your
vetikvatechaH8615 →34 times
לֹ֣אnot
lo'H3808 →5168 times
תִכָּרֵֽת׃it will be cut off
tikaretH3772 →288 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
Jeremiah 29:11For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, to give you a future and a hope.
it leads to
- Isaiah 55:8–12
“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways,” declares the LORD.
- Psalms 33:11
The counsel of the LORD stands forever, the purposes of His heart to all generations.
- Micah 4:12
But they do not know the thoughts of the LORD or understand His plan, for He has gathered them like sheaves to the threshing floor.
- Psalms 40:5
Many, O LORD my God, are the wonders You have done, and the plans You have for us— none can compare to You— if I proclaim and declare them, they are more than I…
- Job 23:13
But He is unchangeable, and who can oppose Him? He does what He desires.
- Isaiah 55:8–12
Through
Hebrews 10:35So do not throw away your confidence; it holds a great reward.
it leads to
- 1 Corinthians 15:58
Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast and immovable. Always excel in the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.
- Galatians 6:8–10
The one who sows to please his flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; but the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.
- Hebrews 3:6
But Christ is faithful as the Son over God’s house. And we are His house, if we hold firmly to our confidence and the hope of which we boast.
- 1 Corinthians 15:58
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); Charles Spurgeon, The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 2150: “"All the Day Long"” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.