Proverbs 11:8

The righteous person is delivered ¹  out of trouble, and the wicked turns up in his stead. ² 

Es 7:9,10; Pr 21:18; Isa 43:3,4; Da 6:23,24

¹ tn The verb is the Niphal perfect from the first root חָלַץ (khalats), meaning “to draw off; to withdraw,” and hence “to be delivered.”

sn The verse is not concerned with the problem of evil and the suffering of the righteous; it is only concerned with the principle of divine justice.

² tn The verb is masculine singular, so the subject cannot be “trouble.” The trouble from which the righteous escape will come on the wicked – but the Hebrew text literally says that the wicked “comes [= arrives; turns up; shows up] in the place of the righteous.” Cf. NASB “the wicked takes his place”; NRSV “the wicked get into it instead”; NIV “it comes on the wicked instead.”