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Proverbs 17:13 · World English Bible

Proverbs 17:13 Meaning Whoever Rewards Evil for Good

Whoever rewards evil for good, evil shall not depart from his house.

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What does Proverbs 17:13 mean?

When a mind answers love with attack, it does not injure the love it strikes at but binds the injury to itself, for what is given out is what is kept, and the ego's assault always circles home. The house is the mind's own dwelling, the settled place of its thoughts, and the harm it sends toward a brother takes up lodging there and will not leave, because projection changes nothing outside and only fixes the guilt more firmly within.

From the Christian Psychology reading below.

Proverbs 17:13 through 1 lens

The same verse, read by one tradition.

CHRISTIAN PSYCHOLOGY

Christian Psychology

When a mind answers love with attack, it does not injure the love it strikes at but binds the injury to itself, for what is given out is what is kept, and the ego's assault always circles home. The house is the mind's own dwelling, the settled place of its thoughts, and the harm it sends toward a brother takes up lodging there and will not leave, because projection changes nothing outside and only fixes the guilt more firmly within.

The correction is to answer good with good and love with love, so that nothing dark is sent out to return, and the mind's inner house is kept clear for the only guest that heals it.

House: the mind's own dwelling, the settled place where its thoughts abide, in which the harm it sends outward takes lodging and remains

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Christian Psychology lens

Live Proverbs 17:13 today

  1. When someone's rudeness is still rattling around your head tonight, do not draft the reply you will never send. Put the phone down and let the day close clean.
  2. Someone has been kind to you lately and you have been short with them anyway. Go fix that today with one sentence, no explanation needed.
  3. When you get the dismissive email or the snapped answer, wait an hour and then respond like a decent person. Not because they earned it, because you have to keep living in whatever you send.

What have I been sending out that I would not want to come back and stay?

The same truth in other traditions

Buddhism · Dhammapada

Hatred never ends through hatred. It ends through its opposite, and that is simply how the thing works.

Tao Te Ching

Meet resentment with goodness. Returning harm only ties you to the harm you returned.

Stoicism · Marcus Aurelius

The best revenge on an unkind person is to refuse to become like them. Whatever you send out is what you will have to live inside.

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