Proverbs 11:31

31. Righteous shall be recompensed; (or requited;) much more (or even so,) the wicked and the sinner Luther renders the former clause, “The righteous must suffer on the earth,” which, Zockler says, hits the meaning.

The sense then would be: Even the righteous man suffers on the earth for those sins which he occasionally commits through infirmity and temptation; how much more the wicked man for his deliberate and habitual transgressions. The argument is a fortiori, from the less to the greater. This sense is preferred by many commentators. Miller translates thus: “Behold, the man who is righteous on the earth shall be recompensed:” and makes this note: “Not recompensed on the earth, for that is not true. Above all would the second clause not be true, for Solomon takes care to tell us (Ecclesiastes 9:2) that ‘ there is one event to all.’ It is not true that the wicked are punished ‘ on earth’ ‘ much more,’ or much less, than any other class. ‘ On earth’ has such a location as to be placed with either word, and the sense directs that it marks the arena of trial and not of reward.” Conant translates the first clause substantially as Miller, but retains the “much more” of the second. Stuart: “If the righteous shall be recompensed on the earth, surely, then, the wicked and the sinner.” Compare 1 Peter 4:16. On the whole, our Authorized Version here may be permitted to stand. It agrees with the Septuagint and Peter.