morally wrong · noun, common masculine singular absolute
man
אָדָ֣ם'a.Dam
H120
ruddy i.e. a human being (an individual or the species · noun, common masculine singular absolute
dieth
בְּמ֤וֹתbe.Mot
H4194
death (natural or violent) · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct
expectation
תִּקְוָ֑הtik.Vah
H8615
literally a cord (as an attachment) · noun, common feminine singular absolute
perish
תֹּאבַ֣דto.Vad
H6
properly · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person feminine singular
hope
וְתוֹחֶ֖לֶתve.to.Che.let
H8431
expectation · conjunction + noun, common feminine singular construct
unjust
אָוֶןʼâven
H205
strictly nothingness
perisheth
אָבָֽדָה'a.Va.dah
H6
properly · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person feminine singular
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Proverbs 10:28 The hope of the righteous shall be gladness: but the expectation of the wicked shall perish.
Job 8:13-14 So are the paths of all that forget God; and the hypocrite’s hope shall perish:
Job 11:20 But the eyes of the wicked shall fail, and they shall not escape, and their hope shall be as the giving up of the ghost.
Exodus 15:9-10 The enemy said, I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil; my lust shall be satisfied upon them; I will draw my sword, my hand…
Psalms 146:4 His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish.
Proverbs 14:32 The wicked is driven away in his wickedness: but the righteous hath hope in his death.
Luke 12:19-20 And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.
Ezekiel 28:9 Wilt thou yet say before him that slayeth thee, I am God? but thou shalt be a man, and no God, in the hand of him that slayeth thee.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Proverbs 11:7
Note, 1. Even wicked men, while they live, may keep up a confident expectation of a happiness when they die, or at least a happiness in this world. The hypocrite has his hope, in which he wraps himself as the spider in her web. The worldling expects great matters from his wealth; he calls it goods laid up for many years, and hopes to take his ease in it and to be merry; but in death their expectation will be frustrated: the worldling must leave this world which he expected to continue in and the hypocrite will come short of that world which he expected to remove to, Job 27:8. 2. It will be the great aggravation of the misery of wicked people that their hopes will sink into despair just when…
expectation . . . perish--for death cuts short all his plans (Luk 16:25).
hope of unjust--better, "hope of wealth," or "power" (compare Isa 40:29, Hebrew). This gives an advance on the sentiment of the first clause. Even hopes of gain die with him.
John Gill on Proverbs 11:7
When a wicked man dieth, his expectation shall perish,.... His expectation of a longer life, of getting more riches, attaining to more honour, enjoying more pleasure here, and of having happiness hereafter, and of being delivered from wrath to come; he will then find, when he comes to die, that his expectations in this world are vain, and those which respect happiness in another world are ill-grounded; or when he dies, the expectation of others that depended on him, trusted in him, and looked for great things from him, will then be at an end;
and the hope of unjust men perisheth; which is as the giving up of the ghost, and expires when a man does; it is only in this life, or however it ceas…
Three proverbs regarding destruction and salvation:
7 When a godless man dies, his hope cometh to nought,
And the expectation of those who stand in fulness of strength is destroyed.
We have already remarked in the Introduction that אדם is a favourite word of the Chokma, and the terminological distinction of different classes and properties of men (vid., pp. 40, 42); we read, Pro 6:12, אדם בּליּעל, and here, as also Job 20:29; Job 27:13, אדם רשׁע, cf. Pro 21:29, אישׁ רשׁע, but generally only רשׁע is used. A godless man, to whom earthly possessions and pleasure and honour are the highest good, and to whom no means are too base, in order that he may appease this his threefold passion, rocks him…
The Church Fathers
"When a righteous man dies, hope does not perish." He hopes that his children will do well; he hopes to be provided with great things. This passage also transports us to thoughts of the resurrection or of our posterity. Or, since one who is righteous has delighted in all these things already, he will also enjoy their future consummation; or, finally, that he would have enjoyment of glory after death.
"And the expectation of the diligent will perish." Similarly, there is one kind of diligence with which the good are always girded to fulfill God's commandments; another, with which the wicked, when they sin knowingly, fear diligently lest they someday be seized for eternal punishment. Therefore, rightly the expectation of those who serve God with a diligent mind will be crowned; but the expectation of those who, disregarding God and already condemned by their own conscience before His judgment, the expectation of the diligent will perish. This verse is very different in the old translation, which says: "The hope of a just man who has died will not perish, but the glory of the wicked will perish."
"When a wicked man dies, there is no longer any hope." Alas, poor man! Origen ignored this sentence, who believed that life would be given to all the wicked and sinners after the universal and final judgment. It should be noted, however, that although there is no hope of pardon for the wicked after death, there are those who, after death, can be absolved of lighter sins to which they were bound, either by chastisement of punishments or by the prayers, alms, and celebrations of masses by their loved ones. But these things, whenever they are done, are done both before the judgment and for lighter faults. However, those who think they will be liberated after a long time following judgment are mistaken and perhaps it pertains to them...
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Character Of The Wicked · Unjust — Unjust
Death Of The Wicked, The · Is without hope — Is without hope
Injustice · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Right living, which flows from wisdom, is more important than riches. Nothing is wrong with riches (10:15, 22; 14:24) that are gained properly (cp. 13:11; 21:6; 22:16).
Rashi on Proverbs 11:7
When a wicked man dies, hope is lost The hope of all who trust in him.
and the expectation of his children is lost Heb. אונים. The expectation of his children, who are the products of his strength, is lost, for no good will come to them in his merit. But when the righteous die, their children have trust in their righteousness.
