Proverbs 17:11

An evil man seeketh only rebellion: therefore a cruel messenger shall be sent against him.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
evil	רָ֑ע Ra'	H7451	bad or (as noun) evil (natural or moral) · adjective, masculine singular absolute
seeketh	יְבַקֶּשׁ ye.va.kesh-	H1245	to search out (by any method · verb, piel imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
rebellion	מְרִ֥י me.Ri	H4805	bitterness · noun, common masculine singular absolute
cruel	אַ֝כְזָרִ֗י 'akh.za.Ri	H394	terrible · adjective, masculine singular absolute
messenger	וּמַלְאָ֥ךְ u.mal.'Akh	H4397	a messenger · conjunction + noun, common masculine singular absolute
sent	יְשֻׁלַּח ye.shu.lach-	H7971	to send away · verb, pual imperfect, 3rd person masculine 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

1 Kings 2:46 So the king commanded Benaiah the son of Jehoiada; which went out, and fell upon him, that he died. And the kingdom was established in the h…
2 Samuel 16:5-9 And when king David came to Bahurim, behold, thence came out a man of the family of the house of Saul, whose name was Shimei, the son of Ger…
2 Samuel 18:15 And ten young men that bare Joab’s armour compassed about and smote Absalom, and slew him.
2 Samuel 20:22 Then the woman went unto all the people in her wisdom. And they cut off the head of Sheba the son of Bichri, and cast it out to Joab. And he…
1 Kings 2:24-25 Now therefore, as the LORD liveth, which hath established me, and set me on the throne of David my father, and who hath made me an house, as…
1 Kings 2:31 And the king said unto him, Do as he hath said, and fall upon him, and bury him; that thou mayest take away the innocent blood, which Joab s…
Matthew 21:41 They say unto him, He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and will let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen, which shall render him t…
Matthew 22:7 But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth: and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city.

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Proverbs 17:11

Here is the sin and punishment of an evil man. 1. His sin. He is an evil man indeed that seeks all occasions to rebel against God, and the government God has set over him, and to contradict and quarrel with those about him. Quaerit jurgia - He picks quarrels; so some. There are some that are actuated by a spirit of opposition, that will contradict for contradiction-sake, that will go on frowardly in their wicked ways in spite of all restraint and check. A rebellious man seeks mischief (so some read it), watches all opportunities to disturb the public peace. 2. His punishment. Because he will not be reclaimed by mild and gentle methods, a cruel messenger shall be sent against him, some dreadf…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Proverbs 17:11

Such meet just retribution (Kg1 2:25). a cruel messenger--one to inflict it.

John Gill on Proverbs 17:11

An evil man seeketh only rebellion,.... For he seeks nothing but what is evil; and all sin is rebellion against God, a contempt of his laws, and a transgression of them; a trampling upon his legislative power and authority; an act of hostility against him, and a casting off allegiance to him. Or rather the words may be rendered, "rebellion", that is, "the rebellious man", so the Targum, the abstract for the concrete, "verily" or "only seeketh evil" (m); a man that is rebellious against his prince, that is of a rebellious disposition, is continually seeking to do mischief in the commonwealth; he is continually plotting and contriving destructive schemes, and stirring up sedition, and causing…

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Keil & Delitzsch on Proverbs 17:11

Five proverbs of dangerous men against whom one has to be on his guard: 11 The rebellious seeketh only after evil, And a cruel messenger is sent out against him. It is a question what is subj. and what obj. in 11a. It lies nearest to look on מרי as subj., and this word (from מרה, stringere, to make oneself exacting against any, to oppose, ἀντιτείνειν) is appropriate thereto; it occurs also at Eze 2:7 as abstr. pro concreto. That it is truly subj. appears from this, that בּקּשׁ רע, to seek after evil (cf. Pro 29:10; Kg1 20:7, etc.), is a connection of idea much more natural than בּקּשׁ מרי to seek after rebellion. Thus אך will be logically connected with רע, and the reading אך מרי will be p…

The Church Fathers

The wicked always seeks conflict, etc. A cruel angel is an unclean spirit who is sent by the Lord against sinners to afflict them in the present; just as he afflicted the Egyptians to whom he sent the wrath of his indignation, indignation, and wrath, and tribulation, impositions by evil angels, or even after death to eternal destruction. But on the other hand, the Lord will send his angel around those who fear him, and he will deliver them.
— Bede, Commentary on Proverbs

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

Citizens · WICKED AND TREA — WICKED AND TREA
Loyalty · Enforce — Enforce
Rebellion · Trea — Trea

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).

Proverbs 17:11

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Proverbs 17:11

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Proverbs 17:11

John Gill on Proverbs 17:11

Keil & Delitzsch on Proverbs 17:11

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Proverbs 17:11

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Proverbs 17:11

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Proverbs 17:11

John Gill on Proverbs 17:11

Keil & Delitzsch on Proverbs 17:11

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Proverbs 17:11

Rashi on Proverbs 17:11