What Does Proverbs 17:13 Mean in the King James?

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

Proverbs 17:13 · KJV

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 Hebrew sets evil that is “returned” against evil that “will not move away”: what is repaid becomes a presence in the house.

THE MEANING

When good is answered with harm, the harm is described as staying in the one’s house. The verse makes the exchange more than a moment: evil returned for good is followed by evil that does not depart.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

The verse undoes the belief that you can repay goodness with harm and keep the resulting evil outside your own home.

THE ROOT

מֵשִׁיב

meshiv

GROWS FROM

שׁוּב

To turn back or return.

The word rendered “rewardeth” carries the motion of returning: the person returns evil in place of good. The verse then says that evil will not move away from the house, setting return against departure.

ALSO GROWS

shav: Returns; turns back.

שָׁב

This form makes the root’s turning motion clear: the verse describes evil being sent back in response to good.

teshuvah: Return; turning back.

תְּשׁוּבָה

This noun carries the same root idea of return, echoing the verse’s picture of an exchange that does not simply pass and disappear.

THE PATTERN

What a person sends into the world or measures out to others can return as a consequence in that person’s own life.

His mischief shall return upon his own head, and his violent dealing shall come down upon his own pate.

Psalm 7:16 · KJVThe harm a person sends out returns upon that person, making the consequence visible.

For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.

Matthew 7:2 · KJVThe measure given to others becomes the measure returned.

Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.

Galatians 6:7 · KJVWhat is planted becomes what the planter later gathers.

THE THREAD

His mischief shall return upon his own head, and his violent dealing shall come down upon his own pate.

Psalm 7:16 · KJV

Proverbs uses ⁨מֵשִׁיב⁩ (meshiv, returning) for the person who repays good with evil; Psalm 7:16 uses ⁨יָשׁוּב⁩ (yashuv, returns) for harm coming back upon its sender. Both turn on ⁨שׁוּב⁩ (shuv, return), giving the warning a sharper edge: what goes out can turn back.

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