Proverbs 21:18
A wicked man is a ransom for a righteous man, and the treacherous dealer for the upright.
A Conservative Version
In The King James Version
The wicked shall be a ransom for the righteous, and the transgressor for the upright.
In Context
17He who loves pleasure shall be a poor man. He who loves wine and oil shall not be rich.
19It is better to dwell in a desert land, than with a contentious and fretful woman.
Cross References
Isaiah 43:3For I am LORD thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Savior. I have given Egypt as thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba in thy stead.
Isaiah 55:8For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says LORD.
Matthew Henry on Proverbs 21:18
17 He that loveth pleasure shall be a poor man: he that loveth wine and oil shall not be rich. Here is an argument against a voluptuous luxurious life, taken from the ruin it brings upon men's temporal interests. Here is 1. The description of an epicure: He loves pleasure. God allows us to use the delights of sense soberly and temperately, wine to make glad the heart and put vigour into the spirits, and oil to make the face to shine and beautify the countenance; but he that loves these, that sets his heart upon… Read the whole commentary →