Translation commentary on Proverbs 24:20

“For the evil man has no future”: This verse gives the reason for the warning in verse 19, which is that in the end evildoers will have nothing. The line is literally “for there will not be a future for the bad person.” For “future” see 23.18; this line is the negative of what is stated there. It may be expressed as “Nothing good lies ahead for the wicked person.” The Contemporary English Version rendering is “They will soon be gone.”

“The lamp of the wicked will be put out”: See 13.9, where the Hebrew is identical. In this verse the line expresses the same thought as in the first line, but in figurative language.

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Proverbs. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2000. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

complete verse (Proverbs 24:20)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Proverbs 24:20:

  • Kupsabiny: “because an evil person does not have anything to hope for in the days to come.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “For as for the wicked, they will have no future.
    Their future will be dark.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “for they do not have a good future and they will be like a lamp which is snuffed-out.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Because they have no good outcome and they are like lamps that are-extinguished.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)

SIL Translator’s Notes on Proverbs 24:20

24:20

The first line states what the evil person will not experience. The second line uses a figure of speech to explain what he will experience instead.

20a For the evil man has no future;

20b the lamp of the wicked will be extinguished.

In Hebrew, the first underlined phrase is singular. The second underlined phrase is plural. As in similar verses, you may use either singular or plural in either line.

24:20a

For the evil man has no future: In Hebrew, this clause is literally “for a future does not belong to the evil ⌊person⌋ .” It implies that evil people will not have a good end or outcome to their lives. Some other ways to translate this clause are:

An evil person has nothing to hope for (New Century Version)
-or-
Evil people will not have a good end to their lives.

See the note on 23:18a, where the positive equivalent (“surely there is a future, and your hope will not be cut off”) occurs.

24:20b

the lamp of the wicked will be extinguished: This clause is a metaphor. It compares the life of wicked people to a lamp that is “extinguished” or “put out.” It means that their temporary prosperity will soon be gone. They will experience hardship, ruin, and premature death.

This clause is identical to 13:9b. See the notes there for translation advice. You may need to translate this clause differently, because the preceding context is not the same.

General Comment on 24:20a–b

In some languages, it may be more natural to combine and/or reorder the parallel parts in these lines. For example:

They will soon be gone like the flame of a lamp that burns out. (Contemporary English Version)

© 2012, 2016, 2020 by SIL International®
Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0.
All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.