Proverbs 14 · a question people ask
"The evil bow down before the good" (14:19). Is that a promise that the wicked always lose?
The saying is, "The evil bow down before the good, and the wicked at the gates of the righteous" (14:19), and earlier in the chapter, "The house of the wicked will be overthrown, but the tent of the upright will flourish" (14:11). Proverbs is a book of sayings, and it sets them side by side without always saying how they fit. The very next saying sets down something else: "The poor person is shunned even by his own neighbor, but the rich person has many friends" (14:20). Another chapter says, "An abundance of food is in poor people’s fields, but injustice sweeps it away" (Proverbs 13:23). And this chapter says of the righteous, "in death, the righteous has a refuge" (14:32). These notes quote each saying as it stands, and don't make 14:11 or 14:19 a guarantee of when or how, or explain them away.
The verses
“The house of the wicked will be overthrown, but the tent of the upright will flourish.”
“The evil bow down before the good, and the wicked at the gates of the righteous. The poor person is shunned even by his own neighbor, but the rich person has many friends.”
“The wicked is brought down in his calamity, but in death, the righteous has a refuge.”
“An abundance of food is in poor people’s fields, but injustice sweeps it away.”