Proverbs 13 · a question people ask
"Misfortune pursues sinners, but prosperity rewards the righteous" (13:21). Is that a promise?
It is a saying, and the chapter doesn't state it as a guarantee. The same chapter holds other sayings beside it. "An abundance of food is in poor people’s fields, but injustice sweeps it away" (13:23): there, what is lost is lost to injustice. "There are some who pretend to be rich, yet have nothing" (13:7): what a man seems to have isn't always what he has. The book's introduction sets 13:23 beside "He becomes poor who works with a lazy hand, but the hand of the diligent brings wealth" (Proverbs 10:4) and "Better is the poor who walks in his integrity than he who is perverse in his ways, and he is rich" (Proverbs 28:6), and Proverbs holds all three. So these notes say what 13:21 says, and no more. In Hebrew rewards in 13:21 is the verb of will be rewarded in 13:13, shalam. The same holds for the next verse: "A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children" (13:22) is a saying, and these notes don't apply it to anyone's family or money today.
The verses
“There are some who pretend to be rich, yet have nothing. There are some who pretend to be poor, yet have great wealth.”
“Whoever despises instruction will pay for it, but he who respects a command will be rewarded.”
“Misfortune pursues sinners, but prosperity rewards the righteous. A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children, but the wealth of the sinner is stored for the righteous. An abundance of food is in poor people’s fields, but injustice sweeps it away.”
“He becomes poor who works with a lazy hand, but the hand of the diligent brings wealth.”