Proverbs 20:22 Meaning and Explanation
“Say not thou, I will recompense evil; but wait on the LORD, and he shall save thee.”
King James Version (KJV)
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Read Full Chapter →Few impulses feel more justified than the wish to even a score. Someone lies about us, cheats us, or wounds someone we love, and a plan for repayment forms almost before we decide to make one. This single line steps into that moment with a command and a promise, and it offers a reason to lay the plan down.
Solomon warns against paying back an injury ourselves. Rather than settling the score, we hand the case to the LORD, who promises to act and to rescue the one who waits.
The Context of Proverbs 20:22
Proverbs 20 belongs to the long collection of Solomonic sayings running from chapter 10 through chapter 22:16, where short couplets stand side by side without a running argument. The neighboring verses deal with public life and its temptations: an inheritance gotten hastily in verse 21, dishonest weights in verses 10 and 23, and the mystery of a life directed by the LORD in verse 24. Verse 22 speaks directly to a single hearer in the second person, the form this chapter reserves for its sharpest counsel. It assumes a real grievance already suffered and addresses the space between the injury and our answer to it.
What Does Proverbs 20:22 Mean?
The opening words, 'Say not thou, I will recompense evil,' fasten on speech before action. The sentence being forbidden is one we rehearse inwardly: a resolution, first person, future tense, already decided. To recompense is to pay back in kind, and the wording treats revenge as a transaction we intend to settle personally. What follows replaces that private vow with a posture, 'wait on the LORD.' Waiting here carries expectation, the alert patience of someone watching for a promised arrival. The closing clause supplies the ground of such patience, 'he shall save thee,' which moves the whole matter from a debt we collect to a rescue God performs on our behalf.
Set among sayings about weights, measures, and judgment, this counsel assumes a world where wrongs are real and God cares about redress. Verses 10 and 23 call rigged scales an abomination, verse 8 pictures a king scattering evil with his eyes, and verse 26 shows a wise ruler dealing with the wicked. Justice keeps its place in this chapter; the proverb simply assigns it an address. Israel already had elders, courts, and law for handling grievances, and the law itself reserved vengeance to God in Deuteronomy 32:35. What verse 22 removes is the office of private avenger, a role we are unqualified to hold, since verse 24 grants that we cannot even trace our own way.
Paul gathers this counsel into his instruction for Christian life, telling the Romans to leave room for God's wrath instead of avenging themselves, and he anchors the charge in that same word of Deuteronomy about vengeance belonging to the LORD. The promise closing the proverb finds its fullest shape at the cross, where Jesus suffered injustice and, as Peter writes, committed himself to him that judgeth righteously. Salvation held out to the one who waits proves to be far larger than escape from an enemy. It is God taking the whole case into his own hands, answering evil at its root, and vindicating those who entrusted their cause to him.
Proverbs 20:22 in the Original Language
qavah (קָוָה), 'wait' -- to look for with steady expectation. The word describes hopeful watching for someone who has promised to come, so the command sets our attention on the LORD rather than on the offender.
Bible Verses Related to Proverbs 20:22
“To me belongeth vengeance, and recompence; their foot shall slide in due time: for the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things that shall come upon them make haste.”
- Deuteronomy 32:35
“Say not, I will do so to him as he hath done to me: I will render to the man according to his work.”
- Proverbs 24:29
“Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.”
- Romans 12:19
“Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously:”
- 1 Peter 2:23
Where Proverbs 20:22 Echoes in Scripture
Romans 12:19 carries this proverb forward. Paul urges believers to hand wrath over to God instead of avenging themselves, grounding the charge in the LORD's own claim on vengeance from Deuteronomy 32:35, and then pressing further with instructions to feed a hungry enemy. Set beside Proverbs 20:22, that passage keeps both of the proverb's moves: the hand withdrawn from repayment and the confidence that God will handle what we release. The proverb supplies the promise; Paul supplies the daily practice that grows out of it.
How to Apply Proverbs 20:22 Today
Most of our chances to obey this line are small and quick. A message drafted at midnight, a story retold with the worst possible slant, a favor quietly withheld from someone who once withheld one from us. Naming the impulse honestly helps, since the proverb targets the inner vow before it ever reaches the hand. Waiting can be active: we can still report a crime, seek fair mediation, set a boundary, or ask for help from those responsible for order. What we release is the private project of making someone pay. In its place we can pray specifically for God to act, and let time show what he does.
Reflection & Prayer
Where is one grievance we have been quietly carrying interest on, waiting for the right moment to collect? A prayer to borrow: Lord, you have seen what was done to me, and you have seen the plans I have made in reply. I hand the case to you. Guard my mouth today, keep my heart from bitterness while I wait, and let your salvation be enough.