What Does Proverbs 21:7 Mean in the King James?
The robbery of the wicked shall destroy them; because they refuse to do judgment.
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 plunder that refuses justice becomes the force that carries the plunderer toward ruin.
THE MEANING
When gain depends on violence, the gain carries its holder toward ruin. Refusing judgment means refusing to establish what is right, and the violence then escapes the restraint that judgment provides.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that taking by force makes you secure is undone: the plunder itself becomes a path to destruction.
THE ROOT
שֹׁד
shod
GROWS FROM
שדד
To devastate, plunder, or deal violently.
“Robbery” here carries the force of plunder and devastation, from shadad, to deal violently. The word describes gain bound up with the violence that produces it, so the plunder is already entangled with destruction.
ALSO GROWS
shod: Plunder, devastation, or violence.
שֹׁד
This is the verse’s word for robbery; its range makes the taking itself feel destructive, not merely profitable.
shoded: A plunderer or spoiler.
שׁוֹדֵד
The same root names the person who plunders, linking the violent act to the one who carries it out.
מִשְׁפָּט
mishpat
GROWS FROM
שפט
To judge, decide, or establish what is right.
The verse says they refuse “to do judgment”: mishpat is justice enacted, not simply a verdict. The line sets plunder against the practice of establishing what is right; refusing that order leaves violence unrestrained.
ALSO GROWS
shaphat: To judge or decide.
שָׁפַט
The verb shows that mishpat grows from the act of making a just decision.
shofet: A judge or one who governs by judgment.
שֹׁפֵט
This branch connects judgment to the person responsible for establishing what is right.
THE PATTERN
Violent gain turns back on its holder when justice is refused.
So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain; which taketh away the life of the owners thereof.His mischief shall return upon his own head, and his violent dealing shall come down upon his own pate.Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.THE THREAD
Woe to thee that spoilest, and thou wast not spoiled; and dealest treacherously, and they dealt not treacherously with thee! when thou shalt cease to spoil, thou shalt be spoiled; and when thou shalt make an end to deal treacherously, they shall deal treacherously with thee.“Spoilest” and “spoiled” come from shadad, the same root behind shod, “robbery,” in Proverbs. Isaiah makes the return explicit: the plunderer is met with the very violence they set loose.
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