Proverbs Chapter 20 verse 22 Holy Bible
Say not thou, I will recompense evil: Wait for Jehovah, and he will save thee.
read chapter 20 in ASV
Do not say, I will give punishment for evil: go on waiting for the Lord, and he will be your saviour.
read chapter 20 in BBE
Say not, I will recompense evil: wait on Jehovah, and he shall save thee.
read chapter 20 in DARBY
Say not thou, I will recompense evil; but wait on the LORD, and he shall save thee.
read chapter 20 in KJV
read chapter 20 in WBT
Don't say, "I will pay back evil." Wait for Yahweh, and he will save you.
read chapter 20 in WEB
Do not say, `I recompense evil,' Wait for Jehovah, and He delivereth thee.
read chapter 20 in YLT
Proverbs 20 : 22 Bible Verse Songs
Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerse 22. - Say not thou, I will recompense evil (Proverbs 24:29). The jus talonis is the natural feeling of man, to do to others as they have done unto you, to requite evil with evil. But the moralist teaches a better lesson, urging men not to study revenge, and approaching nearer to Christ's injunction, which gives the law of charity, "Whatsoever ye would (οπσα α}ν θέλητε) that men should do to you, do ye even so to them" (Matthew 7:12). The Christian rule is expounded fully by St. Paul (Romans 12:14, 17, etc). It was not unknown to the Jews; for we read in Tobit 4:15, "Do that to no man which thou hatest;" and Hillel enjoins, "Do not thou that to thy neighbour which thou hatest when it is done to thee." Even the heathens had excogitated this great principle. There is a saying of Aristotle, preserved by Diogenes Laertius, "Act towards your friends as you would wish them to act towards you." The Chinese have a proverb, "Water does not remain on the mountain, or vengeance in a great mind." Wait on the Lord, and he shall save thee. The pious writer urges the injured person to commit his cause to the Lord, not in the hope of seeing vengeance taken on his enemy, but in the certainty that God will help him to bear the wrong and deliver him in his own good time and way. The Christian takes St. Peter's view, "Who is he that will harm you if ye be followers of that which is good?" (1 Peter 3:13), knowing that "all things work together for good to them that love God" (Romans 8:28; comp. Ecclus. 2:2, 6). Septuagint, "Say not, I will avenge myself on my enemy, but wait on the Lord, that (ἵνα) he may help thee." The last clause may be grammatically rendered thus, but it is more in accordance with the spirit st' the proverb, as Delitzsch observes, to regard it as a promise. Vulgate, et liberabit te.
Ellicott's Commentary
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(22) Wait on the Lord and he shall save thee.--Do not look for vengeance on enemies (for they are to be forgiven), but for deliverance from their attacks; forget their malice, remember only God's love for thee, and trust in Him. (Comp. 1Peter 3:13, Romans 8:28.)
