What Does Proverbs 10:7 Mean in the King James?
The memory of the just is blessed: but the name of the wicked shall rot.
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
A person’s name is their nature carried in memory: an aligned life becomes a blessing, while wickedness decays.
THE MEANING
Your life is not only remembered; the nature carried by your name becomes either a blessing or something that rots. What is aligned in you remains as good received by others, while a wicked nature cannot keep its name intact. Memory itself carries the difference.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that notoriety is lasting life: a name rooted in wickedness is left to decay, not preserved as power.
THE ROOT
זֵכֶר
zēkher
GROWS FROM
זכר
Remember, recall, call to mind.
“memory” in this verse is zēkher. The line speaks of keeping a person in remembrance, not just storing a record. Beside shem (שֵׁם, name), which carries a person’s nature, it points to the character that remains attached to someone: that remembered nature can become a blessing.
ALSO GROWS
zākhar: To remember
זָכַר
The verb shows memory as an act of recalling, the living root beneath the remembrance in the verse.
zikkārôn: Memorial, remembrance
זִכָּרוֹן
A memorial carries someone’s presence forward in memory, giving the verse’s legacy language a concrete form.
צַדִּיק
tsaddiq
GROWS FROM
צדק
Be just, right, or in alignment.
“just” in this verse is tsaddiq. The root also gives tsedeq (צֶדֶק, justice or alignment) and tsedaqah (צְדָקָה, justice or righteousness). The verse frames enduring remembrance as the fruit of an aligned life, not fame by itself.
ALSO GROWS
tsedeq: Justice, rightness, alignment
צֶדֶק
It brings the idea of being just into the sphere of right order, the character held in memory.
tsedaqah: Justice, righteousness
צְדָקָה
It shows the same root expressed as a lived quality, the kind of life whose memory becomes a blessing.
לִבְרָכָה
livrakhah
GROWS FROM
ברך
Bless; traditionally associated with kneeling.
“blessed” in this verse is livrakhah. The verse does not merely say the just receive approval; their remembrance becomes a blessing. The root’s traditional association with the knee keeps blessing embodied as a bestowed good, while the verse shows that good continuing beyond the person’s presence.
ALSO GROWS
berakhah: Blessing
בְּרָכָה
This is the noun in the verse’s phrase: the memory itself is a blessing.
barukh: Blessed
בָּרוּךְ
It shows the same root as a condition or quality that can be bestowed.
berekh: Knee
בֶּרֶךְ
The traditional association with kneeling keeps blessing tied to embodied posture rather than abstraction.
THE PATTERN
What a person becomes lives on as either a blessing carried in memory or a name that decays.
And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:Surely he shall not be moved for ever: the righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance.Verily I say unto you, Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world, this also that she hath done shall be spoken of for a memorial of her.THE THREAD
Surely he shall not be moved for ever: the righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance.Psalm 112:6 uses the same Hebrew root זכר (z-k-r; zakar, remember) and the same word צַדִּיק (tsaddiq, just or aligned). It makes the remembrance of the just explicit, while Proverbs reveals its two outcomes: blessing for the righteous and decay for the wicked.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us