Bible Strands
Proverbs 17:13
If anyone returns evil for good, evil will never leave his house.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The wisdom teacher addresses readers navigating immediate threats of dangerous folly and escalating conflict in the surrounding verses.
The words — מֵשִׁיב (mešîḇ) and תָּמוּשׁ (tāmûš) convey the actions of repaying and departing. The text literally states that evil will not depart from a house when someone returns evil for good.
The thread — This pattern of reciprocal action runs in Romans 12:17, which commands readers not to repay anyone evil for evil.
Why it lands — The text demands readers break cycles of retaliation by refusing to match hostility with hostility. It places the responsibility on individuals to prevent domestic ruin through intentional restraint.
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
Whoso rewardeth evil for good, evil shall not depart from his house.
Cross-references
- Psalms 109:4 In return for my love they accuse me, but I am a man of prayer.
- Psalms 55:12 For it is not an enemy who insults me; that I could endure. It is not a foe who rises against me; from him I could hide.
- Romans 12:17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Carefully consider what is right in the eyes of everybody.
- 1 Peter 3:9 Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.
- Psalms 35:12 They repay me evil for good, to the bereavement of my soul.
- Psalms 38:20 Those who repay my good with evil attack me for pursuing the good.
- 2 Samuel 12:10 Now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house, because you have despised Me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own.’
- 1 Samuel 24:17 and said to David, “You are more righteous than I, for you have rewarded me with good, though I have rewarded you with evil.
- Jeremiah 18:20 Should good be repaid with evil? Yet they have dug a pit for me. Remember how I stood before You to speak good on their behalf, to turn Your wrath from them.
- Matthew 27:5 So Judas threw the silver into the temple and left. Then he went away and hanged himself.