What Does Proverbs 16:4 Mean in the King James?
The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.
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
The verse says even the wicked are made for a day of calamity, placing what resists the LORD inside the purpose that orders all things.
THE MEANING
All things stand within the LORD’s purpose, and the wicked too are made for a day of calamity. The verse does not call wickedness good; it places the wicked within the reach of the LORD’s ordering and names a day of disaster. Its claim is severe: even what opposes the good is not beyond an appointed outcome.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that the wicked can continue without consequence is undone here: their path has a day of calamity in view.
THE ROOT
לְמַעֲנֵהוּ
ləmaʿanēhû
GROWS FROM
ענה
ʿānāh
To answer or respond; the derived noun can mean answer, response, purpose, or end.
The phrase is commonly rendered “for himself” and is also understood as “for its purpose” or “for its end.” Its word family carries the sense of answer or response, and the verse gives that purpose a severe edge: even the wicked are directed toward a day of calamity.
ALSO GROWS
ʿānāh: The basic verb for answering or responding.
עָנָה
It supplies the word family behind the verse’s purpose language.
maʿaneh: A response or answer; in this construction, purpose or end.
מַעֲנֶה
This form stands behind “for himself” and brings the idea of an outcome into the verse.
רָעָה
raʿāh
GROWS FROM
רעע
rāʿaʿ
To be bad, spoil, or cause harm.
Here the word can name calamity or disaster as well as evil. So “the day of evil” can mean a day when disaster arrives, holding the wicked person’s condition beside the calamity that awaits.
ALSO GROWS
raʿ: Bad, evil, or harmful.
רַע
It belongs to the same word family and carries the sense of what is harmful.
raʿāh: Evil, trouble, harm, or calamity.
רָעָה
This is the form used for the “day of evil,” where disaster is in view.
רָשָׁע
rāšāʿ
GROWS FROM
רשע
rāšaʿ
To be wicked or guilty.
Hebrew uses a different word for “wicked” than for “evil.” Rasha names the culpable person, while raʿāh names harm or calamity; the verse moves from the person to a day of disaster rather than simply repeating “evil.”
ALSO GROWS
rāšāʿ: A guilty or wicked person.
רָשָׁע
This is the person the verse places in relation to the day of calamity.
rešaʿ: Wickedness, guilt, or wrongdoing.
רֶשַׁע
The abstract form makes clear that this root concerns culpable wrongdoing.
THE PATTERN
Scripture places calamity and human opposition within the LORD’s ordering, where wrath does not escape restraint or judgment.
I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee: the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain.What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction:THE THREAD
I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.Isaiah uses רָע (raʿ, evil or adversity), from the same root family as Proverbs’ רָעָה (raʿāh, calamity). This shared word opens “the day of evil” as a day of disaster as well as a moral category, sharpening how the verse speaks about the wicked’s appointed end.
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