God's curse
Verses 33-35
God deals with different people differently.
Verse 33
God will do good things for us if we obey him. He is kind to us, and he is kind to our homes too. The word ‘home’ shows that God will help our families also.
Contrast this with the evil man. God curses both the evil man, and those who live in the evil man’s house. The evil man’s family suffer, because of his evil actions.
Since Jesus died, this has changed. Each person must trust God for himself or herself. ‘Then these words will become untrue: “The fathers ate sour fruit, and the children have a sour taste in their mouths!” Instead, everyone will die because of his own wrong actions. Whoever eats sour fruit will taste it for himself.’ (Jeremiah 31:29-30)
Verse 34
The time for judgement is coming. God will be our judge.
We should serve God, and we should be humble. We must not be proud. When God is our judge, he will show us kindness and love.
Some people are proud. They insult other people. They must turn from their evil behaviour. Then God will forgive them. If they refuse God’s love, God will punish them.
God loves us, although we do not deserve his love. He offers his kindness to everyone. We must be humble to receive it. If we trust in ourselves, we cannot receive his love. Nobody will go to heaven because they deserve it. We have all done wrong things. We all deserve God’s punishment. This is why God sent Jesus. Jesus did not deserve God’s punishment. Jesus suffered the punishment that we deserve. If we turn to God, he will forgive us. He saves us, because he is kind.
This verse, Proverbs 3:34, is an important Bible verse. Both James and Peter used this verse in their own books. See James 4:6 and 1 Peter 5:6.