Bible Strands
Proverbs 11:4
Riches are worthless in the day of wrath, but righteousness brings deliverance from death.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The verse belongs to a wisdom collection addressing readers seeking prudent living, positioned between parallel statements in Proverbs 11:3 and 11:5 that contrast upright conduct with wicked outcomes.
The words — The Hebrew הֹון (Hon) literally denotes wealth, while עֶבְרָה ('ev.Rah) specifies fury or wrath.
The thread — The explicit contrast between wealth's failure and righteous deliverance runs in Zephaniah 1:18 and Proverbs 10:2, while Genesis 7:1 connects righteousness to preservation from judgment.
Why it lands — The text requires readers to treat material wealth as ineffective during divine judgment and to pursue righteous conduct as the sole mechanism for escaping death.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Riches profit not in the day of wrath: but righteousness delivereth from death.
Cross-references
- Zephaniah 1:18 Neither their silver nor their gold will be able to deliver them on the Day of the LORD’s wrath. The whole earth will be consumed by the fire of His jealousy.” For indeed, He will make a sudden end of all who dwell on the earth.
- Proverbs 10:2 Ill-gotten treasures profit nothing, but righteousness brings deliverance from death.
- Genesis 7:1 Then the LORD said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and all your family, because I have found you righteous in this generation.
- Ezekiel 7:19 They will throw their silver into the streets, and their gold will seem unclean. Their silver and gold cannot save them in the day of the wrath of the LORD. They cannot satisfy their appetites or fill their stomachs with wealth, for it became the stumbling block that brought their iniquity.
- 1 Timothy 4:8 For physical exercise is of limited value, but godliness is valuable in every way, holding promise for the present life and for the one to come.
- Psalms 49:6 They trust in their wealth and boast in their great riches.
- Matthew 16:26 What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?
- Luke 12:20 But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be required of you. Then who will own what you have accumulated?’
- Job 36:18 Be careful that no one lures you with riches; do not let a large bribe lead you astray.
- Proverbs 12:28 There is life in the path of righteousness, but another path leads to death.