What Does Proverbs 10:28 Mean in the King James?
The hope of the righteous shall be gladness: but the expectation of the wicked shall perish.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
Hope splits at its root: the future of the aligned opens into gladness, while the opposing expectation loses the future it is reaching for.
THE MEANING
When your life is aligned with what is right, the future you hold is already carrying gladness. An expectation set against that alignment has no lasting ground; the future it anticipates is lost.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It dissolves the belief that expecting a future makes it secure: the verse says expectation itself can perish.
THE ROOT
תִּקְוַת
tiqvat
GROWS FROM
קוה
to wait for, hope, expect
תִּקְוַת (tiqvat, expectation of) comes from קוה (q-w-h; qāvāh, to wait for or hope). The first half uses תּוֹחֶלֶת (tōḥelet, hope), from יחל (y-ḥ-l; yāḥal, to wait or hope): two different seed-words frame two futures, one opening into gladness and the other disappearing.
ALSO GROWS
qāvāh: wait for, hope, expect
קָוָה
The verb shows expectation as waiting toward something, not merely picturing an outcome.
tiqvāh: hope, expectation
תִּקְוָה
This noun names the future one waits for; here, its fate depends on what it is rooted in.
צַדִּיקִים
tsaddiqim
GROWS FROM
צדק
rightness, justice, alignment
“righteous” in this verse is tsaddiqim. The root צֶדֶק (ṣedeq, alignment or rightness) names what is in right relation. Gladness appears as the growth of that orientation, not as something detached from it.
ALSO GROWS
ṣedeq: rightness, justice, alignment
צֶדֶק
The root names the quality that marks the righteous in this verse.
ṣedaqah: justice, right action
צְדָקָה
The same root extends alignment into the way a person acts.
תֹּאבֵד
toʾved
GROWS FROM
אבד
to perish, be lost
“perish” in this verse is toʾved. The expectation does not simply miss its target; it is lost. The root makes the ending a loss of the way as well as the disappearance of an anticipated future.
ALSO GROWS
ʾāḇaḏ: perish, be lost
אָבַד
The verb in the verse comes from this root of loss and perishing.
ʾăḇaddōn: destruction, ruin
אֲבַדּוֹן
This related noun carries the root’s movement from being lost into ruin.
THE PATTERN
The future a person waits for takes its character from what they are aligned with: one orientation opens into joy, while the other comes to nothing.
For the LORD knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish.When a wicked man dieth, his expectation shall perish: and the hope of unjust men perisheth.Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.THE THREAD
I have waited for thy salvation, O LORD.The verb translated “waited” is קִוִּיתִי (qivviti, I waited or hoped), from קוה (q-w-h; qāvāh, to wait or hope), the same root behind תִּקְוַת (tiqvat, expectation) here. Genesis gives that expectation a direction: waiting toward deliverance, rather than merely projecting an outcome.
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