Proverbs 21:7

The robbery of the wicked shall destroy them; because they refuse to do judgment.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(7) The robbery of the wicked.—Or, their violence. See above on Proverbs 1:19. (Comp. Psalm 9:15.)

Benson Commentary

Proverbs 21:7-8. The robbery of the wicked shall destroy them — The injury which they do to others shall, either by God or men, be returned upon their own heads; because they refuse to do judgment — They wilfully and obstinately give up themselves to unrighteous practices. The way of man — The course of man’s life, of the life of every man, as he is by nature, or in his corrupt state; is froward and strange — Perverse and estranged from God, and from man’s primitive integrity, and from the rule which God hath given him whereby to direct his actions, namely, reason and Scripture; but as for the pure, his work is right — His conversation, his tempers, words, and works; his designs and undertakings are agreeable to that rule.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

21:1 The believer, perceiving that the Lord rules every heart as he sees fit, like the husbandman who turns the water through his grounds as he pleases, seeks to have his own heart, and the hearts of others, directed in his faith, fear, and love. 2. We are partial in judging ourselves and our actions. 3. Many deceive themselves with a conceit that outward devotions will excuse unrighteousness. 4. Sin is the pride, the ambition, the glory, the joy, and the business of wicked men. 5. The really diligent employ foresight as well as labour. 6. While men seek wealth by unlawful practices, they seek death. 7. Injustice will return upon the sinner, and will destroy him here and for ever. 8. The way of mankind by nature is froward and strange.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Robbery - Probably the "violence" which the wicked practice.

Shall destroy them - More literally, carries them away.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

7. robbery—or, "destruction," especially oppression, of which they are authors.

shall destroy—literally, "cut with a saw" (1Ki 7:9), that is, utterly ruin them. Their sins shall be visited on them in kind.

to do judgment—what is just and right.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

The robbery of the wicked shall destroy them; the injury which they do to others shall either by God or men be returned upon their own heads. They refuse to do judgment; they wilfully and obstinately give up themselves to unrighteous practices.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

The robbery of the wicked shall destroy them,.... Or cut them, so Ben Melech: dissect or "saw" (s) them; cut them to the heart; that is, when the sins they have been guilty of, in robbing God of his due, or doing injury to men in their properties, cheating them or stealing from them, are set home on their consciences, they are in the utmost agonies and distress; it is as if a saw was drawn to and fro over them, and will be their case for ever without true repentance: this is the worm that never dies, and the fire that is never quenched; this is everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and is very just and righteous;

because they refuse to do judgment; to do that which is just between man and man, to let everyone enjoy his own property: as it is true of private robbers, so of men in public offices, whose business it is to defend men in the quiet possession of property; which, if they refuse to do, as it is a refusal to do judgment, it is in effect a robbery of them; and will be charged on their consciences at one time or another.

(s) "dissecabit eos", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; "serrabit eos", Aben Ezra & Kimchi in Mercer. Michaelis; "gravem ipsis uterum trahit", Schultens.

Geneva Study Bible

The {d} robbery of the wicked shall destroy them; because they refuse to do judgment.

(d) He means this chiefly of judges and princes who leave that calling, to which God has called them, and impoverish their subjects to maintain their lusts.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

7. robbery] Rather, violence.

destroy them] Rather, sweep them up, or catch them, as fishes, for example, in a net. Comp. Habakkuk 1:15, where the same Heb. word is used.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 7. - The robbery of the wicked shall destroy them; Vulgate, rapinae impiorum detrahenteos; Revised Version, "The violence of the wicked shall sweep them away," like chaff before the wind. The violence with which they treat others shall rebound on themselves, shall bring its own punishment; they shall sink in the pit that they made, and their foot shall be taken in the net which they hid (Psalm 9:15; comp. Proverbs 1:18, 19). Septuagint, "Destruction shall sojourn as guest (ἐπιξενωθήσεται) with the ungodly." The reason of this fate is given in the concluding hemistich: Because they refuse to do judgment. This is a judicial retribution on them for wilfully declining (ver. 25) to do what is right. Proverbs 21:7

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

7 The violence of the godless teareth them away,

   For they have refused to do what is right.

The destruction which they prepare for others teareth or draggeth them away to destruction, by which wicked conduct brings punishment on itself; their own conduct is its own executioner (cf. Proverbs 1:19); for refusing to practise what is right, they have pronounced judgment against themselves, and fallen under condemnation. Rightly Jerome, detrahent, with Aquila, κατασπάσει equals j'gurrem (as Habakkuk 1:15), from גּרר; on the contrary, the lxx incorrectly, ἐπιξενωθήσεται, from גוּר, to dwell, to live as a guest; and the Venet., as Luther, in opposition to the usus loq.: δεδίξεται (fut. of δεδίσσεσθαι, to terrify), from גוּר, to dread, fear, which also remains intrans., with the accus. following, Deuteronomy 32:27. The Syr. and the Targ. freely: robbery (Targ. רבּוּנא, perhaps in the sense of usury) will seize them, viz., in the way of punishment. In Arab. jarr (jariyratn) means directly to commit a crime; not, as Schultens explains, admittere crimen paenam trahens, but attrahere (arripere), like (Arab.) jany (jinâytn), contrahere crimen; for there the crime is thought of as violent usurpation, here as wicked accumulation.