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Good News Translation

Proverbs 17:11

Death will come like a cruel messenger to wicked people who are always stirring up trouble.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Citizens;   Loyalty;   Rebellion;   The Topic Concordance - Evil;   Rebellion;   Seeking;  

Dictionaries:

- Charles Buck Theological Dictionary - Pardon;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Fool, Foolishness, and Folly;   Proverbs, Book of;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Fool;   Sent;   Transgression;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
An evil person desires only rebellion;a cruel messenger will be sent against him.
Hebrew Names Version
An evil man seeks only rebellion; Therefore a cruel messenger shall be sent against him.
King James Version
An evil man seeketh only rebellion: therefore a cruel messenger shall be sent against him.
English Standard Version
An evil man seeks only rebellion, and a cruel messenger will be sent against him.
New American Standard Bible
A rebellious person seeks only evil, So a cruel messenger will be sent against him.
New Century Version
Disobedient people look only for trouble, so a cruel messenger will be sent against them.
Amplified Bible
A rebellious man seeks only evil; Therefore a cruel messenger will be sent against him.
World English Bible
An evil man seeks only rebellion; Therefore a cruel messenger shall be sent against him.
Geneva Bible (1587)
A sedicious person seeketh onely euill, and a cruel messenger shall be sent against him.
Legacy Standard Bible
A rebellious man seeks only evil,So a cruel messenger will be sent against him.
Berean Standard Bible
An evil man seeks only rebellion; so a cruel messenger will be sent against him.
Contemporary English Version
Cruel people want to rebel, and so vicious attackers will be sent against them.
Complete Jewish Bible
An evil person seeks only rebellion, but a cruel messenger will be sent against him.
Darby Translation
An evil [man] seeketh only rebellion; but a cruel messenger shall be sent against him.
Easy-to-Read Version
Those who are evil only want to cause trouble. In the end, punishment without mercy will be sent to them.
George Lamsa Translation
A quarrelsome man seeks mischief; therefore a cruel messenger shall be sent against him.
Lexham English Bible
An evil person will seek only rebellion, and a cruel messenger will be sent against him.
Literal Translation
Rebellion seeks evil, so a cruel messenger is sent against him.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
A sedicious personne seketh myschefe, but a cruell messaunger shal be sent agaynst him.
American Standard Version
An evil man seeketh only rebellion; Therefore a cruel messenger shall be sent against him.
Bible in Basic English
An uncontrolled man is only looking for trouble, so a cruel servant will be sent against him.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
A rebellious man seeketh only evil; therefore a cruel messenger shall be sent against him.
King James Version (1611)
An euill man seeketh onely rebellion; therefore a cruell messenger shall be sent against him.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
A seditious person seketh mischiefe, and a cruell messenger shalbe sent agaynst hym.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
Every bad man stirs up strifes: but the Lord will send out against him an unmerciful messenger.
English Revised Version
An evil man seeketh only rebellion; therefore a cruel messenger shall be sent against him.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Euere an yuel man sekith stryues; forsothe a cruel aungel schal be sent ayens hym.
Update Bible Version
An evil man seeks only rebellion; Therefore a cruel messenger shall be sent against him.
Webster's Bible Translation
An evil [man] seeketh only rebellion: therefore a cruel messenger shall be sent against him.
New English Translation
An evil person seeks only rebellion, and so a cruel messenger will be sent against him.
New King James Version
An evil man seeks only rebellion; Therefore a cruel messenger will be sent against him.
New Living Translation
Evil people are eager for rebellion, but they will be severely punished.
New Life Bible
A man who will not obey looks only for what is bad. So one who has no loving-pity will be sent against him.
New Revised Standard
Evil people seek only rebellion, but a cruel messenger will be sent against them.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Nothing less than rebellion, doth a wicked man seek, and, a relentless messenger, shall be sent out against him.
Douay-Rheims Bible
An evil man always seeketh quarrels: but a cruel angel shall be sent against him.
Revised Standard Version
An evil man seeks only rebellion, and a cruel messenger will be sent against him.
Young's Literal Translation
An evil man seeketh only rebellion, And a fierce messenger is sent against him.
THE MESSAGE
Criminals out looking for nothing but trouble won't have to wait long—they'll meet it coming and going!
New American Standard Bible (1995)
A rebellious man seeks only evil, So a cruel messenger will be sent against him.

Contextual Overview

11 Death will come like a cruel messenger to wicked people who are always stirring up trouble.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

2 Samuel 15:12, 2 Samuel 16:5-9, 2 Samuel 18:15, 2 Samuel 18:19, 2 Samuel 20:1, 2 Samuel 20:22, 1 Kings 2:24, 1 Kings 2:25, 1 Kings 2:31, 1 Kings 2:46, Matthew 21:41, Matthew 22:7, Luke 19:27

Reciprocal: Proverbs 11:27 - he that seeketh Proverbs 16:14 - messengers Proverbs 26:17 - passeth 1 Peter 2:13 - General

Cross-References

Genesis 17:25
and his son Ishmael was thirteen.
Genesis 17:27
together with all of Abraham's slaves.
Exodus 4:25
Then Zipporah, his wife, took a sharp stone, cut off the foreskin of her son, and touched Moses' feet with it. Because of the rite of circumcision she said to Moses, "You are a husband of blood to me." And so the Lord spared Moses' life.
Exodus 12:48
but no uncircumcised man may eat it. If a foreigner has settled among you and wants to celebrate Passover to honor the Lord , you must first circumcise all the males of his household. He is then to be treated like a native-born Israelite and may join in the festival.
Deuteronomy 10:16
So then, from now on be obedient to the Lord and stop being stubborn.
Joshua 5:3
So Joshua did as the Lord had commanded, and he circumcised the Israelites at a place called Circumcision Hill.
2 Samuel 3:14
And David also sent messengers to Ishbosheth to say, "Give me back my wife Michal. I paid a hundred Philistine foreskins in order to marry her."
Acts 7:8
Then God gave to Abraham the ceremony of circumcision as a sign of the covenant. So Abraham circumcised Isaac a week after he was born; Isaac circumcised his son Jacob, and Jacob circumcised his twelve sons, the famous ancestors of our race.
Romans 4:11
He was circumcised later, and his circumcision was a sign to show that because of his faith God had accepted him as righteous before he had been circumcised. And so Abraham is the spiritual father of all who believe in God and are accepted as righteous by him, even though they are not circumcised.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

An evil [man] seeketh only rebellion,.... For he seeks nothing but what is evil; and all sin is rebellion against God, a contempt of his laws, and a transgression of them; a trampling upon his legislative power and authority; an act of hostility against him, and a casting off allegiance to him. Or rather the words may be rendered, "rebellion", that is, "the rebellious man", so the Targum, the abstract for the concrete, "verily" or "only seeketh evil" m; a man that is rebellious against his prince, that is of a rebellious disposition, is continually seeking to do mischief in the commonwealth; he is continually plotting and contriving destructive schemes, and stirring up sedition, and causing trouble; and so a rebel against God is always seeking that which is sinful, which is evil in its own nature, and contrary to the law and will of God; and in the issue brings the evil of punishment on himself;

therefore a cruel messenger shall be sent against him: if a rebel against his lawful sovereign, a messenger shall be sent by him to take him into custody, who will show him no mercy; or an executioner to dispatch him, who will not spare to perform his orders: and if a rebel against God, some judgment of God shall fall upon him in a very severe manner; or his own conscience shall accuse him, and shall be filled with dreadful apprehensions of divine vengeance; or Satan, the angel of death, shall be let loose upon him, to terrify or destroy him; or death itself, which spares none. The Septuagint and Arabic versions ascribe this to God as his act, rendering it, "the Lord shall send", c. and so Aben Ezra who also refers the former clause to him, and gives it as the sense of it; that he shall seek to do the rebellious man evil, inflict on him the evil of punishment for the evil of sin.

m אך מרי יבקש רע "profecto rebellio quaeret malum", Montanus; so Schultens, Piscator, Tigurine version, Cocceius.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The proverb expresses the reverence of the East for the supreme authority of the king. The “cruel messenger” is probably the king’s officer despatched to subdue and punish. The Septuagint renders it: “The Lord will send a pitiless Angel.”


 
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