Proverbs 18:3

When the wicked cometh, then cometh also contempt, and with ignominy reproach.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
wicked	רָ֭שָׁע Ra.sho'	H7563	morally wrong · noun, common masculine singular absolute
cometh	בְּֽבוֹא be.Vo'-	H935	to go or come (in a wide variety of applications) · preposition + verb, qal infinitive construct
cometh	בָּ֣א ba'	H935	to go or come (in a wide variety of applications) · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
contempt	בּ֑וּז Buz	H937	disrespect · noun, common masculine singular absolute
ignominy	קָל֥וֹן ka.Lon	H7036	disgrace · noun, common masculine singular absolute
reproach	חֶרְפָּֽה cher.Pah	H2781	contumely · noun, common feminine singular absolute

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 22:10 Cast out the scorner, and contention shall go out; yea, strife and reproach shall cease.
1 Peter 4:14 If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part he is evil spok…
Proverbs 11:2 When pride cometh, then cometh shame: but with the lowly is wisdom.
Proverbs 29:16 When the wicked are multiplied, transgression increaseth: but the righteous shall see their fall.
1 Peter 4:4 Wherein they think it strange that ye run not with them to the same excess of riot, speaking evil of you:
1 Samuel 20:30 Then Saul’s anger was kindled against Jonathan, and he said unto him, Thou son of the perverse rebellious woman, do not I know that thou has…
Nehemiah 4:4 Hear, O our God; for we are despised: and turn their reproach upon their own head, and give them for a prey in the land of captivity:
Psalms 69:9 For the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up; and the reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me.

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

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Proverbs 18:3

This may include a double sense: - 1. That wicked people are scornful people, and put contempt upon others. When the wicked comes into any company, comes into the schools of wisdom or into the assemblies for religious worship, then comes contempt of God, of his people and ministers, and of every thing that is said and done. You can expect no other from those that are profane than that they will be scoffers; they will be an ignominy and reproach; they will flout and jeer every thing that is serious and grave. But let not wise and good men regard it, for the proverb of the ancients says, such wickedness proceeds from the wicked. 2. That wicked people are shameful people, and bring contempt upo…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Proverbs 18:3

So surely are sin and punishment connected (Pro 16:4). wicked, for "wickedness," answers to ignominy, or the state of such; and contempt, the feeling of others to them; and to reproach, a manifestation of contempt.

John Gill on Proverbs 18:3

When the wicked cometh, then cometh also contempt,.... When he comes into the world, as Aben Ezra; as soon as he is born, he is liable to contempt, being born in sin; but this is true of all: rather, as the Vulgate Latin, and with which the Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic versions agree, when he cometh into the depth of sin, or to the height of his wickedness; he commences a scoffer at, and condemner of all that is good: when he comes into the house of God, it may be said, "there comes contempt"; for he comes not to hear the word, in order to receive any profit by it, but to contemn it, and the ministers of it; and with ignominy reproach: or, "with the ignominious man reproach" (l): he that…

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Keil & Delitzsch on Proverbs 18:3

The group beginning with Pro 18:3 terminates in two proverbs (Pro 18:6 and Pro 18:7), related to the concluding verse of the foregoing: 3 If a godless man cometh, then cometh also contempt; And together with disgrace, shame. J. D. Michaelis, and the most of modern critics, read רשׁע; then, contempt etc., are to be thought of as the consequences that follow godlessness; for that קלון means (Hitzig) disgracefulness, i.e., disgraceful conduct, is destitute of proof; קלון always means disgrace as an experience. But not only does the Masoretic text punctuate רשׁע, but also all the old translators, the Greek, Aramaic, and Latin, have done so. And is it on this account, because a coming naturally s…

The Church Fathers

The more those greater sins grow on them, the more does the soul become accustomed to them and think light of them. For it is said, "When the wicked comes to the depth of evil things, he thinks light of them."
— John Damascene, BARLAAM AND JOSEPH 19:172

The impious man, when he has come into the depth of sins, despises, etc. He who, being wrapped in the long darkness of sins, despairs of the light, already out of desperation, loosens the reins for himself to sin everywhere. But such a one by no means escapes the reproach of future damnation, whom the memory of divine fear did not restrain from the practice of his iniquity.
— Bede, Commentary on Proverbs

Confession dies with a dead man, but is always possible for one who is alive. There is this saying, "When a sinner shall have come into the depth of evil things, he despises [them]." For it is one thing to long for, another thing to fight against righteousness. It is one thing to desire to be delivered from evil, another thing to defend one's evil doings rather than to confess.
— Augustine of Hippo, EXPLANATIONS OF THE PSALMS 68:7

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

Contempt · A characteristic of the wicked — A characteristic of the wicked

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).

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Proverbs 18:3

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Proverbs 18:3

John Gill on Proverbs 18:3

Keil & Delitzsch on Proverbs 18:3

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Proverbs 18:3

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Proverbs 18:3

John Gill on Proverbs 18:3

Keil & Delitzsch on Proverbs 18:3

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Rashi on Proverbs 18:3