◄ Proverbs 11:31 ►
If the righteous receive their due on earth, how much more the ungodly and the sinner!
Study Bible
If the righteous receive their due on earth
This phrase emphasizes the principle of divine justice and retribution. In the context of Proverbs, wisdom literature often highlights the moral order established by God, where actions have corresponding consequences. The righteous, those who live according to God's commandments, experience blessings and rewards in this life. This aligns with the broader biblical theme found in passages like Psalm 37:25, which speaks of the righteous not being forsaken. Historically, the Israelites understood their covenant with God as one that promised blessings for obedience (Deuteronomy 28). This phrase also reflects the idea that God's justice is evident in the present world, not just in the afterlife.

how much more the ungodly and the sinner!
This part of the verse serves as a warning and a contrast to the first phrase. If the righteous, who are favored by God, receive their due, then the ungodly and sinners, who live in opposition to God's will, will certainly face consequences. This reflects the biblical principle of sowing and reaping, as seen in Galatians 6:7-8. The ungodly and sinners are often depicted in Scripture as those who reject God's law and live in rebellion, and their ultimate fate is one of judgment and separation from God. This phrase underscores the certainty and severity of divine justice. It also serves as a call to repentance, urging individuals to turn from sin and seek righteousness. Theologically, it points to the ultimate judgment that will occur at the end of times, as described in Revelation 20:11-15, where all will be judged according to their deeds.

Persons / Places / Events
1. The Righteous
In the context of Proverbs, the righteous are those who live according to God's laws and seek to follow His wisdom. They are often contrasted with the wicked or ungodly.

2. The Ungodly and the Sinner
These terms refer to those who live in opposition to God's commands, often characterized by immoral or unethical behavior.

3. Earth
The physical realm where human life unfolds, and where divine justice is often seen in the form of consequences for actions.
Teaching Points
Divine Justice is Inevitable
God's justice is impartial and certain. The righteous will receive their due, and so will the ungodly. This should encourage believers to live righteously and warn against complacency in sin.

Earthly Consequences Reflect Eternal Realities
The consequences we face on earth are a reflection of God's eternal justice. This should motivate us to live in a way that honors God, knowing that our actions have both temporal and eternal implications.

The Importance of Righteous Living
Living righteously is not just about avoiding punishment but about aligning with God's will and experiencing His blessings. This should inspire us to pursue holiness and integrity in all aspects of life.

Encouragement in Trials
For the righteous, trials and discipline are part of God's refining process. Understanding this can provide comfort and strength during difficult times, knowing that God is working for our good.

Warning Against Sin
The verse serves as a warning to those who live in sin, reminding them of the certainty of divine justice. It calls for repentance and a turning towards God.
Bible Study Questions
1. How does the concept of divine justice in Proverbs 11:31 influence your understanding of God's character?

2. In what ways can the principle of receiving one's due on earth encourage you to pursue righteousness in your daily life?

3. How do the connections to 1 Peter 4:17-18 and Galatians 6:7-8 deepen your understanding of the consequences of sin and righteousness?

4. Reflect on a time when you experienced the consequences of your actions. How did this experience shape your spiritual growth?

5. How can you use the truth of Proverbs 11:31 to encourage someone who is struggling with the idea of justice and fairness in the world?
Connections to Other Scriptures
Psalm 58:11
This verse speaks to the reality of divine justice, affirming that there is a reward for the righteous and a God who judges on earth.

1 Peter 4:17-18
Peter echoes the sentiment of Proverbs 11:31, emphasizing that judgment begins with the household of God and highlighting the difficulty for the ungodly and sinner.

Galatians 6:7-8
Paul discusses the principle of sowing and reaping, which aligns with the idea that both the righteous and the wicked will receive their due.
Sermons
Judgment HereA. Gibson, M.A.Proverbs 11:31
The Present RecompenseCharles KingsleyProverbs 11:31
The Pricelessness of IntegrityE. Johnson Proverbs 11:3-5, 8-11, 19, 20, 28, 31
Temporal and Eternal ContrastsE. Johnson Proverbs 11:27-31
People
Solomon
Places
Jerusalem
Topics
Behold, Due, Evil-doer, Receive, Recompensed, Repaid, Requited, Rewarded, Righteous, Sinner, Surely, Ungodly, Upright, Wicked
Dictionary of Bible Themes
Proverbs 11:31

     6040   sinners
     8846   ungodliness

Proverbs 11:30-31

     7150   righteous, the

Library
The Present Recompense
Chester Cathedral, Nave Service, Evening. May 1872. Proverbs xi. 31. "Behold, the righteous shall be recompensed in the earth: much more the wicked and the sinner." This is the key-note of the Book of Proverbs--that men are punished or rewarded according to their deeds in this life; nay, it is the key-note of the whole Old Testament. "The eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and His ears are open unto their prayers; the countenance of the Lord is against them that do evil, to root out …
Charles Kingsley—All Saints' Day and Other Sermons

The Waterer Watered
A sermon (No. 626) delivered on Sunday Morning, April 23, 1865, at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington, by C. H. Spurgeon. "He that watereth shall be watered also himself."--Proverbs 11:25. The general principle is that in living for the good of others, we shall be profited also ourselves. We must not isolate our own interests, but feel that we live for others. This teaching is sustained by the analogy of nature, for in nature there is a law that no one thing can be independent of the rest of …
C.H. Spurgeon—Sermons on Proverbs

Withholding Corn
A sermon (No. 642) delivered on Sunday morning, July 30, 1865, at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington, by C. H. Spurgeon. "He that withholdeth corn, the people shall curse him: but blessing shall be upon the head of him that selleth it."--Proverbs 11:26. If I dared, I should always preach upon the comfortable promises and gracious doctrines of God's Word. I find it most delightful and easy work to expatiate upon those themes of revelation which abound in sweetness, and are full of savor and preciousness …
C.H. Spurgeon—Sermons on Proverbs

The Soul Winner
A sermon (No. 1292) delivered on Thursday evening, January 20th, 1876, at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington, by C. H. Spurgeon. "The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that winneth souls is wise."--Proverbs 11:30. I had very great joy last night--many of you know why but some do not. We held our annual meeting of the church, and it was a very pleasant sight to see so many brethren and sisters knit together in the heartiest love, welded together as one mass by common sympathies, …
C.H. Spurgeon—Sermons on Proverbs

Soul Winning
A sermon (No. 850) delivered at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington, by C. H. Spurgeon. "He that winneth souls is wise."--Proverbs 11:30. The text does not say "he that winneth sovereigns is wise," though no doubt he thinks himself wise, and perhaps in a certain grovelling sense in these days of competition he must be so; but such wisdom is of the earth and ends with the earth; and there is another world where the currencies of Europe will not be accepted, nor their past possession be any sign …
C.H. Spurgeon—Sermons on Proverbs

To Win Souls Requires Wisdom.
Text.--He that winneth souls is wise.--Proverbs xi. 30. THE most common definition of wisdom is, that it is the choice of the best end and the selection of the most appropriate means for the accomplishment of that end--the best adaptation of means to secure a desired end. "He that winneth souls," God says, "is wise." The object of this evening's lecture is to direct Christians in the use of means for accomplishing their infinitely desirable end, the salvation of souls. To-night I shall confine my …
Charles Grandison Finney—Lectures on Revivals of Religion

A Wise Minister Will be Successful.
Text.--He that winneth souls is wise.--Proverbs xi. 30. I PREACHED last Friday evening from the same text, on the method of dealing with sinners by private Christians. My object at this time is to take up the more public means of grace, with particular reference to the DUTIES OF MINISTERS. As I observed in my last lecture, wisdom is the choice and pursuit of the best end by the most appropriate means. The great end for which the Christian Ministry was appointed, is to glorify God in the salvation …
Charles Grandison Finney—Lectures on Revivals of Religion

How to Preach the Gospel.
Text.--He that winneth souls is wise.--Proverbs xi. 30. ONE of the last remarks in my last lecture, was this, that the text ascribes conversion to men. Winning souls is converting men. This evening I design to show, I. That several passages of Scripture ascribe conversion to men. II. That this is consistent with other passages which ascribe conversion to God. III. I purpose to discuss several further particulars which are deemed important, in regard to the preaching of the Gospel, and which show …
Charles Grandison Finney—Lectures on Revivals of Religion

The Desire of the Righteous Granted;
OR, A DISCOURSE OF THE RIGHTEOUS MAN'S DESIRES. ADVERTISEMENT BY THE EDITOR As the tree is known by its fruit, so is the state of a man's heart known by his desires. The desires of the righteous are the touchstone or standard of Christian sincerity--the evidence of the new birth--the spiritual barometer of faith and grace--and the springs of obedience. Christ and him crucified is the ground of all our hopes--the foundation upon which all our desires after God and holiness are built--and the root …
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3

How those are to be Admonished who Decline the Office of Preaching Out of Too Great Humility, and those who Seize on it with Precipitate Haste.
(Admonition 26.) Differently to be admonished are those who, though able to preach worthily, are afraid by reason of excessive humility, and those whom imperfection or age forbids to preach, and yet precipitancy impells. For those who, though able to preach with profit, still shrink back through excessive humility are to be admonished to gather from consideration of a lesser matter how faulty they are in a greater one. For, if they were to hide from their indigent neighbours money which they possessed …
Leo the Great—Writings of Leo the Great

Sanctions of Moral Law, Natural and Governmental.
In the discussion of this subject, I shall show-- I. What constitute the sanctions of law. 1. The sanctions of law are the motives to obedience, the natural and the governmental consequences or results of obedience and of disobedience. 2. They are remuneratory, that is, they promise reward to obedience. 3. They are vindicatory, that is, they threaten the disobedient with punishment. 4. They are natural, that is, happiness is to some extent naturally connected with, and the necessary consequence of, …
Charles Grandison Finney—Systematic Theology

Jesus, My Rock.
When the storm and the tempest are raging around me, Oh! where shall I flee to be safe from their shock? There are walls which no mortal hands built to surround me, A Refuge Eternal,--'Tis JESUS MY ROCK! When my heart is all sorrow, and trials aggrieve me, To whom can I safely my secrets unlock? No bosom (save one) has the power to relieve me, The bosom which bled for me, JESUS MY ROCK! When Life's gloomy curtain, at last, shall close o'er me, And the chill hand of death unexpectedly knock, I will …
John Ross Macduff—The Cities of Refuge: or, The Name of Jesus

George Muller, and the Secret of His
POWER IN PRAYER WHEN God wishes anew to teach His Church a truth that is not being understood or practised, He mostly does so by raising some man to be in word and deed a living witness to its blessedness. And so God has raised up in this nineteenth century, among others, George Muller to be His witness that He is indeed the Hearer of prayer. I know of no way in which the principal truths of God's word in regard to prayer can be more effectually illustrated and established than a short review …
Andrew Murray—With Christ in the School of Prayer

The Publication of the Gospel
The Lord gave the word: great was the company of those that published it [or of the preachers] P erhaps no one Psalm has given greater exercise to the skill and patience of commentators and critics, than the sixty-eighth. I suppose the difficulties do not properly belong to the Psalm, but arise from our ignorance of various circumstances to which the Psalmist alludes; which probably were, at that time, generally known and understood. The first verse is the same with the stated form of benediction …
John Newton—Messiah Vol. 2

We Shall not be Curious in the Ranking of the Duties in which Christian Love...
We shall not be curious in the ranking of the duties in which Christian love should exercise itself. All the commandments of the second table are but branches of it: they might be reduced all to the works of righteousness and of mercy. But truly these are interwoven through other. Though mercy uses to be restricted to the showing of compassion upon men in misery, yet there is a righteousness in that mercy, and there is mercy in the most part of the acts of righteousness, as in not judging rashly, …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

Thoughts Upon Worldly-Riches. Sect. Ii.
TIMOTHY after his Conversion to the Christian Faith, being found to be a Man of great Parts, Learning, and Piety, and so every way qualified for the work of the Ministry, St. Paul who had planted a Church at Ephesus the Metropolis or chief City of all Asia, left him to dress and propagate it, after his departure from it, giving him Power to ordain Elders or Priests, and to visit and exercise Jurisdiction over them, to see they did not teach false Doctrines, 1 Tim. i. 3. That they be unblameable in …
William Beveridge—Private Thoughts Upon a Christian Life

Proverbs
Many specimens of the so-called Wisdom Literature are preserved for us in the book of Proverbs, for its contents are by no means confined to what we call proverbs. The first nine chapters constitute a continuous discourse, almost in the manner of a sermon; and of the last two chapters, ch. xxx. is largely made up of enigmas, and xxxi. is in part a description of the good housewife. All, however, are rightly subsumed under the idea of wisdom, which to the Hebrew had always moral relations. The Hebrew …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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