Please Support the Bible Translation Work of the Updated American Standard Version (UASV)

$5.00

Show Your Faith in the Delivering Power of the Almighty

Proverbs 11:21 Updated American Standard Version (UASV)
²¹Be assured,^[1] an evil man will not go unpunished,
but the offspring of the righteous will be delivered.

Be assured, an evil man will not go unpunished: 11:21 begins with an idiom that is literally hand to hand (יָד לְיָד yad leyad), which is rendered be assured. Hand to hand was striking, clasping, or shaking the hand of another when making promises, which served to assure the agreement or arrangement. Another way to look at it might be ‘from hand to hand,’ that is, evil ones will be punished ‘from generation to generation.’ An evil (רַע ra) man is one who is wicked and godless, not good. This man is not morally pure or upright according to the moral values in God’s Word, which negates any possibility of him having a relationship with God. He will not always go unpunished (נָקָה naqah) for his guilt.

but the offspring of the righteous will be delivered: Righteous (צַדִּיק tsaddiq) is one who firmly remains continuously doing good, walking with God, living an upright life, and acts justly in all of his dealings regardless of the difficulties in life. The righteous person is a just person, innocent, in the right, upright and devout in all that his thoughts, words, and actions. He lives according to the moral standard of God’s Word. Will be delivered is the translation of the Hebrew verb (מָלַט malat), meaning to be saved (physically) from ruin, destruction, or harm.

The wicked are hand to hand in making their scheming treachery, and they will not escape punishment. Wickedness and evil-doing are rampant on the earth in the latter part of the last days, it may seem profitable to follow the same course, but that would be short-term thinking. (Ps. 72:7; 1 Pet. 3:12; 2 Tim 3.1-5) The servant of God will not find eternal happiness by walking in the ways of evil men of the world. That is not the way of deliverance. We should not trust in our own hearts, for only if we walk wisely with God will we be delivered. Prov. 28:26) We should not sit idly waiting for deliverance, doing nothing. As Noah awaited the destruction of the wicked men and the Nephilim and he and his family’s deliverance in his day, he not only built an ark but was a preacher of righteousness. (2 Pet. 2:5) Think of every person that was delivered by God from the hands of wicked men, from illnesses, from the fallen world that surrounded them, did these righteous ones not first show their own faith in the delivering power of the Almighty.

[1] Lit Hand to hand