What does “lay not wait against the dwelling of the righteous” mean?

This is a warning to a wicked person who plans harm against someone who lives rightly. To “lay wait” is to lurk or lie in ambush, looking for a chance to damage the righteous person’s home or peace. The saying tells the evildoer not to stalk, threaten, or plunder the place where the righteous live.

What does it mean that a just man falls seven times and rises again?

“Seven times” is a way of saying “many times.” A just person may be brought into repeated troubles and setbacks. Yet falling into hardship is not the end for him. He rises again, recovering from the adversity instead of staying down. The focus is on repeated outward troubles and renewed standing after them.

Does this verse say the just man falls into sin, or into trouble?

The wording can be taken more than one way. Many readers understand the fall mainly as outward trouble, such as persecution or calamity that strikes the righteous. Others also see room for the idea of moral stumbling. The proverb itself does not spell out every kind of fall, but its clear point is that the just do not stay down; they rise again, while the wicked come to a fall from which they do not recover.

What does it mean that the wicked fall into mischief?

When it says the wicked “fall into mischief,” it points to a fall into harm and trouble. Their own wrongdoing and schemes lead them into serious difficulty and ruin. Unlike the just person who rises after many setbacks, the wicked come to a fall that leaves them in the trouble they have brought on themselves.

How does this passage encourage someone who faces repeated setbacks?

These words show that repeated trouble is not strange for someone who seeks to live justly. A person may be struck down many times, yet that does not have to be the end of their story. The saying holds out the pattern that the just rise again after many falls, while the wicked come to a fall that leaves them in their trouble. It encourages perseverance rather than despair when adversity returns.

Why are the righteous compared to someone who rises, while the wicked do not?

The proverb sets two patterns side by side. The just person is pictured as repeatedly knocked down by trouble, yet repeatedly getting back up. The wicked, however, are pictured as falling into trouble and staying there. The point is not to explain every reason behind this, but to show the different outcomes of these two ways of life.

Prov.24.15

Proverbs 24:15

King James Version (KJV)

Lay not wait, O wicked man, against the dwelling of the righteous; spoil not his resting place:

Chapter:

Context:

Do Not Envy

Sub Context:

Saying 27

Lay not wait, O wicked man, against the dwelling of the righteous; spoil not his resting place:

For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again: but the wicked shall fall into mischief.

Cross References

No cross references available for this verse.