Proverbs 21:18

The wicked become ¹  a ransom ²  for the righteous, and the faithless ³  are taken ⁴  in the place of the upright.

Pr 11:8; Isa 43:3,4; Isa 53:4,5; Isa 55:8,9; 1Pe 3:18

¹ tn The term “become” is supplied in the translation.

² sn The Hebrew word translated “ransom” (כֹּפֶר, kofer) normally refers to the price paid to free a prisoner. R. N. Whybray (Proverbs [CBC], 121) gives options for the meaning of the verse: (1) If it means that the wicked obtain good things that should go to the righteous, it is then a despairing plea for justice (which would be unusual in the book of Proverbs); but if (2) it is taken to mean that the wicked suffers the evil he has prepared for the righteous, then it harmonizes with Proverbs elsewhere (e.g., 11:8). The ideal this proverb presents – and the future reality – is that in calamity the righteous escape and the wicked suffer in their place (e.g., Haman in the book of Esther).

³ tn Or “treacherous” (so ASV, NASB, NLT); NIV “the unfaithful.”

⁴ tn The phrase “are taken” does not appear in the Hebrew but is implied by the parallelism; it is supplied in the translation for smoothness.