Proverbs 10:27

27 ¹The fear of the LORD prolongs life, ²but the years of the wicked will be short.

Proverbs 10:27 Meaning and Commentary

Proverbs 10:27

The fear of the Lord prolongeth days
Not beyond the time fixed in the unalterable purposes and decrees of God, ( Job 14:5 ) ; but longer than some others, or than those that fear the Lord expect to live; or longer than, according to the course of nature, and the weakness of their constitutions, it could be thought they should live. Long life is promised to them that fear the Lord; godliness has the promise of this life and of that to come; the fear of the Lord is the means of preserving persons from those things which are pernicious to the health of men, and so of prolonging their days; as well as it has length of days, for ever and ever, even eternal life, annexed to it; see ( Psalms 34:11-14 ) ; but the years of the wicked shall be shortened;
through diseases, which their sins bring upon them, which cut them off before they have lived out half their days; or by means of which, their sins, they come into the hand of the civil magistrate, and die before their time; or are taken off in their full strength by the immediate judgment of God, as were Ananias and Sapphira; and so they die in the midst of their days; and before the time, which, according to the course of nature, and the common period of life, in all human probability they might have arrived unto, ( Psalms 55:23 ) ( Ecclesiastes 7:17 ) .

Proverbs 10:27 In-Context

25 When the tempest passes, the wicked is no more, but the righteous is established forever.

26 Like vinegar to the teeth and smoke to the eyes, so is the sluggard to those who send him.

27 The fear of the LORD prolongs life, but the years of the wicked will be short.

28 The hope of the righteous brings joy, but the expectation of the wicked will perish.

29 The way of the LORD is a stronghold to the blameless, but destruction to evildoers.

Cross References

• 1. See Proverbs 3:2
• 2. See Job 15:32, 33