Proverbs 24:15 - Exposition

Lay not wait, O wicked man, against the dwelling of the righteous. רָשָׁע ( rasha ) is vocative (comp. Ezekiel 33:8 ); taken appositionally, as in Revised Version margin, "as a wicked man," it is senseless; for how could he lay wait in any other character? Spoil not his resting-place. "Spoil," as Proverbs 19:26 (where see note). Drive him not from his house by violence and chicanery. Vulgate, "Seek not impiety in the house of the righteous;" do not attempt to cloak your insidious designs by detecting some evil in the good man, and making yourself the instrument of retribution, as if you were doing God service in afflicting him ( John 16:2 ). Septuagint, "Bring not an ungodly man into the pasture ( νομῇ ) of the righteous, neither be thou deceived by the feasting of the belly."