Proverbs 17:13

If someone does something evil in return for something good being done to him, evil/trouble will never leave that person’s family.

Translation for Translators

In The King James Version

Whoso rewardeth evil for good, evil shall not depart from his house.

In Context

12A mother bear whose cubs have been taken away from her is dangerous, but it is more dangerous to confront a foolish person who is doing something foolish.

14Starting a quarrel is like allowing water to start to leak out of a dam; they both need to be stopped before they get worse.

Read all of Proverbs 17

Cross References

1 Samuel 31:2The Philistines caught up with Saul and his three sons, and they killed all three of his sons, Jonathan and Abinadab and Malchishua.

2 Samuel 21:1During the time that David ruled, there was a famine in Israel for three years. David prayed to Yahweh about it. And Yahweh said, “ In order for the famine to end, Saul’s family needs to be punished [MTY] because Saul killed many people from Gibeon city.”

Psalms 38:20Those who do evil things to me in return for my doing good things to them oppose me because I try to do what is right.

Psalms 109:4I show them that I want to be their friends and I pray for them, but instead of being kind to me, they say that I have done evil things.

Jeremiah 18:20I am doing things that are good, so it is disgusting that [RHQ] they are paying me back by doing evil things to me. It is as though they have dug a pit for me to fall into and die. Do not forget that one time I stood in front of you and pleaded for you to help them, and I tried to prevent you from punishing them [MTY], even though you were very angry with them.

Matthew 27:25And all the people answered, “The guilt for causing him to die [MTY] will be on us, and it will be on our children, too!”

Matthew Henry on Proverbs 17:13

Weighty Sayings. 12 Let a bear robbed of her whelps meet a man, rather than a fool in his folly. Note, 1. A passionate man is a brutish man. However at other times he may have some wisdom, take him in his passion ungoverned, and he is a fool in his folly; those are fools in whose bosom anger rests and in whose countenance anger rages. He has put off man, and is become like a bear, a raging bear, a bear robbed of her whelps; he is as fond of the gratifications of his lusts and passions as a bear of her whelps… Read the whole commentary →

This Verse In Other Editions

Study Proverbs 17:13