Treasures of wickedness profit nothing: but righteousness delivereth from death.
Treasures of wickedness profit nothing: but righteousness delivereth from death. "Profit nothing" - namely, Treasures of wickedness profit nothing: but righteousness delivereth from death. "Profit nothing" - namely, in the day of wrath (Proverbs 11:4); or at death, as the parallel clause suggests. They did not profit the rich fool so as to deliver him from the second death, which is death indeed (Luke 12:19-20). All the profit that Ahab got out of Naboth's vineyard was the curse of God (1 Kings 21:19-24). Judas' thirty pieces of silver, gained by betraying the Lord, were the source of despair and remorse, ending in suicide and eternal perdition. Gehazi's two talents and two changes of raiment, obtained by fraud from Naaman, brought on him Naaman's leprosy (2 Kings 5:20-27). Righteousness flowing from faith (Jeremiah 23:6; Daniel 9:24) - i:e., faith evidencing itself in righteousness (Daniel 4:27) - does deliver from death eternal. Righteousness is the characteristic of the truly "wise" (Proverbs 10:1). This righteousness includes mercy and liberality to others (Proverbs 10:4), and brings the Lord's mercy with it (Psalms 41:1-2; Psalms 112:9; 2 Corinthians 9:9; Daniel 4:27).