Proverbs 16 · a question people ask
"The LORD has made everything for its own end— yes, even the wicked for the day of evil" (16:4). What is the verse saying about the wicked?
It says that the LORD "has made everything for its own end", and it names "even the wicked for the day of evil" (16:4). It doesn't say more than that about how. The sayings on either side hold other things beside it. The next verse says, "Everyone who is proud in heart is an abomination to the LORD; they shall certainly not be unpunished" (16:5). Two verses later: "By the fear of the LORD men depart from evil" (16:6). And the run of sayings sets people's own ways beside what the LORD does: "All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes, but the LORD weighs the motives" (16:2), and "A man’s heart plans his course, but the LORD directs his steps" (16:9). Christians read 16:4 in more than one way, and these notes set down the verses and choose no reading. The honest questions on 2 Samuel 17 and 1 Kings 12 ask a like question, how the LORD's purpose and people's own choices stand together, and set out the two main ways Christians answer it.
The verses
“All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes, but the LORD weighs the motives.”
“The LORD has made everything for its own end— yes, even the wicked for the day of evil. Everyone who is proud in heart is an abomination to the LORD; they shall certainly not be unpunished. By mercy and truth iniquity is atoned for. By the fear of the LORD men depart from evil.”
“A man’s heart plans his course, but the LORD directs his steps.”
“Absalom and all the men of Israel said, “The counsel of Hushai the Archite is better than the counsel of Ahithophel.” For the LORD had ordained to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel, to the intent that the LORD might bring evil on Absalom.”