Proverbs 21:15 · World English Bible
Proverbs 21:15 Meaning It Is Joy to the Righteous
It is joy to the righteous to do justice; but it is a destruction to the workers of iniquity.
What does Proverbs 21:15 mean?
There is a way of seeing that brings joy, and it belongs to the mind that has laid down its own case against the world. To do right, in this deeper sense, is to look on another and find him innocent, and that looking is its own reward, for the mind that forgives is set free in the same instant it releases.
From the Christian Psychology reading below.
Proverbs 21:15 through 1 lens
The same verse, read by one tradition.
Christian Psychology
CHRISTIAN PSYCHOLOGY
Christian Psychology
There is a way of seeing that brings joy, and it belongs to the mind that has laid down its own case against the world. To do right, in this deeper sense, is to look on another and find him innocent, and that looking is its own reward, for the mind that forgives is set free in the same instant it releases. The other way builds a case, gathers evidence, and calls the gathering justice, but it destroys the one who holds it, because every charge laid against a brother is first believed about oneself.
Guilt cannot judge and stay whole. The mind that condemns is the mind that suffers, and the mind that forgives is the mind that is glad.
The just: the part of the mind that has learned to see innocence, the awakened teacher that judges only in favor of love Workers of iniquity: the thoughts that labor at accusation, the ego's industry of building proof against the world
Christian Psychology lensGo deeper in the app
Christian Psychology lens
Live Proverbs 21:15 today
- Pick the person you have been quietly building a case against and spend two minutes today imagining the version of their behavior where they are not the villain.
- In a conversation where you are sure you are right, let the other person be partly right out loud, and watch what happens to your own shoulders.
- When someone cuts you off in traffic or snaps at you in a meeting, skip the story about what kind of person they must be and let it stay a single moment that is already over.
Who am I keeping a file on, and what is it costing me to keep it open?
The same truth in other traditions
Buddhism · Dhammapada
Hatred is never ended by hatred. It ends when one sets it down, and this is the ancient law.
Stoicism · Epictetus
People act from what they believe to be true. Seeing that, you can meet them without accusation, and the calm is yours to keep.
Taoism · Zhuangzi
The mind that insists on sorting the world into right and wrong loses the ease it was born with.
Free · No account needed
Read all of Proverbs 21 through 17 lenses
Lensightful opens every verse of the Bible through the traditions you choose. Save readings, ask a follow-up question, and get one verse a day.
Get Lensightful on the App Store