Proverbs 24:18
in Proverbs 24or the LORD will see and disapprove, and turn His wrath away from him.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Lest Jehovah see it, and it displease him, And he turn away his wrath from him.
KJV
Lest the Lord see it, and it displease him, and he turn away his wrath from him.
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This verse in Proverbs 24
Commentary
5 notes on this verseAnd he turn away his wrath from him - Wrath is here taken for the effect of wrath, punishment; and the meaning must be as paraphrased above - lest he take the punishment from him, and inflict it upon thee. And in this way Coverdale understood it: “Lest the Lorde be angry, and turn his wrath from him unto thee.” Or we may understand it thus: Lest the Lord inflict on thee a similar punishment; for if thou get into his spirit, rejoicing in the calamities of another, thou deservest punishment.
This site's exposition
Do not gloat when your enemy falls
on Proverbs 24:17-18
"Do not gloat when your enemy falls" corrects an instinct the previous verses might almost invite. The reason surprises: "the LORD will see and disapprove, and turn His wrath away from him." Gloating can move God to relent toward the very man being gloated over.
This site's exposition
turn His wrath away from him
Adam Clarke reads the wrath as punishment. He paraphrases the warning as the LORD turning the punishment from the fallen enemy onto the one who gloats. Clarke also allows a second reading, that the heart which rejoices at another's ruin deserves a like punishment of its own.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
Lest the Lord see it, and it displease him,....
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
See the margin. The meaning is “Thy joy will be suicidal, the wrath of the righteous Judge will be turned upon thee, as the greater offender, and thou wilt have to bear a worse evil than that which thou exultest in.”
The words behind it
8 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| פֶּן־ | pen- | lest | H6435 → | 133 times |
| יִרְאֶ֣ה | yireh | he should see | H7200 → | 1300 times |
| יְ֭הוָה | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| וְרַ֣ע | vera' | and it will be displeasing | H7489 → | 107 times |
| בְּעֵינָ֑יו | beeinav | in view his | H5869 → | 887 times |
| וְהֵשִׁ֖יב | veheshiv | and he will turn back | H7725 → | 1056 times |
| מֵעָלָ֣יו | mealav | from towards <the> him | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| אַפּֽוֹ׃ | ʾapo | anger his | H639 → | 276 times |
פֶּן־lest
pen-H6435 →133 times
יִרְאֶ֣הhe should see
yirehH7200 →1300 times
יְ֭הוָהYahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
וְרַ֣עand it will be displeasing
vera'H7489 →107 times
בְּעֵינָ֑יוin view his
beeinavH5869 →887 times
וְהֵשִׁ֖יבand he will turn back
veheshivH7725 →1056 times
מֵעָלָ֣יוfrom towards <the> him
mealavH5921 →5755 times
אַפּֽוֹ׃anger his
ʾapoH639 →276 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
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); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.