What does Proverbs 24:17-20 mean? The verses state:?

Question

"Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth, and let not thine heart be glad when he stumbleth:
18 Lest the LORD see it, and it displease him, and he turn away his wrath from him.
19 Fret not thyself because of evil men, neither be thou envious at the wicked:
20 For there shall be no reward to the evil man; the candle of the wicked shall be put out."


**Scriptures are from the King James Bible.

Thank you all for your answers!

We have to realize that the God of the Old Testament is the God of the New Testament. We read in James 4:11, 12 "Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge.
12 There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another?"

If we are a christian, we should want the "highest good" for everyone. What is the highest good? The highest good is to be saved from our sins, ie be a child of God. The Lord tells us that we are to love our enemies. In Matthew 5:44-46, "But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;

That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.
46 For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?"

We may not be able to talk with our "enemy" but we can still pray for him/her.

The other point of Proverbs is "envy." As most of us know, you cannot take anything with you when you die. Therefore, to be envious at those pf others only injures ourselves. Take a look at Psalms 73.

Answer 1

It means not to gloat over the misfortunes and downfall of your ememy - it's God who will take payment on people's actions, not us. God doesn't want to see us rejoice in our ememy's downfall, even if that's the human thing to do. Rather we should pray for them that they accept and recognize God's correction and chastisement.

Verses 19 and 20 mean not to be upset at wicked people who seem to prosper here on earth in spite of their wickedness - they may prosper here on earth for a time, but they will not get the real reward that God gives in the hereafter unless they repent.

Answer 2

Proverbs 24 17

Answer 3

"17 Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth, and let not thine heart be glad when he stumbleth:
18 Lest the LORD see it, and it displease him, and he turn away his wrath from him.
19 Fret not thyself because of evil men, neither be thou envious at the wicked:
20 For there shall be no reward to the evil man; the candle of the wicked shall be put out." [KJVers]

Well, LRn, the scripture is pretty self -explanatory;
The spirit of the Lord [Holy Spirit] does not display these qualities...rather
..".22: But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
23: Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law" [KJVers]-Gal

Verse 18 could be synominous with what is meant in Prov. 26:44
" Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou also be like unto him" [KJVers]

Verses 19 & 20 are expedient! They remind me of the most beautiful 1st Psalm:1
" Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.
2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.
3 And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.
4 The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.
5 Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.
6 For the LORD knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish."
LRain, I see you love The Proverbs...so
do I. I often tell new christians that a good thing to do is read one/day.

Answer 4

Verses 17 and 18 are one proverb, and mean what they say: Do not take pleasure in the downfall of your enemy; to do so will earn you God's displeasure and He will take away His wrath from that enemy. It is akin to "Do not return evil for evil, but give a blessing instead," a concept I'm afraid many Christians don't understand. Note: the enemy here is a wicked man, verses you, who are assumed to be a righteous man seeking wisdom. Verses 19 and 20 are another proverb, meaning we should not let ourselves be upset if wicked men prosper or upset by the things that they do; all they have for themselves is here and now, and their lives will be snuffed out like a candle. Unstated is that our true reward awaits in the life to come, and our light will not be extinguished. We are, after all, as Christians, in the world, not of the world, and our sights should be set on things above, not things of this world.

Answer 5

Pro 24:17 Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth, and let not thine heart be glad when he stumbleth:
Pro 24:18 Lest the LORD see it, and it displease him, and he turn away his wrath from him.
Pro 24:19 Fret not thyself because of evil men, neither be thou envious at the wicked;
Pro 24:20 For there shall be no reward to the evil man; the candle of the wicked shall be put out.

Do not laugh at your enemy when he will not be successful and be fallen down do not let your heart glad or happy when he stumble.

When Lord God see him stumble,your enemy will be displease and will turn away from God

Don't worry or feel sorry to yourself because of that evil man and do not envy of his evil spirit

Because there is no reward for the evil man but to his eternal death or punishment to Hell.
jtm

Answer 6

As most stated it does mean that you are not to rejoice when your enemy fails. If you do and God sees it it will make him unhappy and Gods 'wrath' will not be focused at your enemy any longer. As for saying dont be envious of the wicked, it happens sometimes, we get jelous that this person may get away with something we cant. We are all human and God is assuring us that he does see the evil and wickid and they will not be rewarded. Sometimes this is hard for us to understand simply because we get impatient on waiting for God and his answers. But do not fret the candle of the wicked sall be put out, in otherwords, God will take care of what needs to be taken care of within his time frame.

Answer 7

It means that if a Christian laughs at the misfotunes of some enemy that has hurt him in the past is not looked on favorably by God. The man who did the wrong thing to you likely didn't know better, but the Christian knows better than to gloat over the downfall of an enemy.

Answer 8

We are not to be glad when an enemy falls because he is like us; placed here to live a life where every day is an opportunity to repent of our evil-doing and turn from it and start filling the world with Good.

When a human being falls, so ends any chance of that person doing Good in the world, so ends his chance of returning to G-d. Who will not be blessed because he is not here to do that Good?

In this sense, even an enemy's death is a loss.

Answer 9

Do not be happy when something bad happens to someone who have did you wrong. If you do, the Lord will not allow their sin to punish them.

Do not worry about or envy evil or wicked people because evil beget evil - Psalm 7:14-16.

Answer 10

I think it means not to resent, mock, etc. your enemies and wicked people, since God sees all that is going on, and will make sure that the wicked are punished and the good are rewarded in the end.