Proverbs 1:26 - Exposition

I also will laugh at your calamity; or, more accurately, in the time of your calamity ; as in the Vulgate, in interitu vestro ridebo. The preposition prefixed to the substantive b ' eyd ' chem ( בְּאֵידְכֵם ) refers to the time, or state, or condition. In the time of their calamity wisdom will exult or rejoice. The LXX ; τῇ ὑμετέρᾳ ἀπλείᾳ ἐπιγελάσομαι , however, favours the rendering of the Authorized Version. Calamity ( אֵיד , eyd ) is heavy overwhelming misfortune, that which oppresses and crushes its victims. The terrific nature of the punishment of the wicked is marked by a succession of terms all of terrible import—calamity, fear, desolation, destruction, distress, and anguish ( Proverbs 1:26 , Proverbs 1:27 ). When these come upon them, then Wisdom will laugh and have them in derision. The verbs "laugh" ( שָׂחַק , sakhak ) and "mock" ( לָעַג laag ) are the same as in Psalms 2:4 , where they are rendered "to mock" and "have in derision." When your fear cometh; i.e. has actually arrived. Fear ( פַחַד , pakhad ); here used metonymically for that which causes the fear or terror ( id, quod timebatis, Vulgate). There is a similar use of φόβος in 1 Peter 3:14 .