Proverbs 12:12 (BSB)

The wicked desire the plunder of evil men, but the root of the righteous flourishes.

From Proverbs 12. Also in the ESV.

Commentary on Proverbs 12:12

• Matthew Henry (Presbyterian), Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary on Proverbs 12:12: See here, 1. What is the care and aim of a wicked man; he would do mischief: He desires the net of evil men. "Oh that I were but as cunning as such a man, to make a hand of those I deal with, that I had but his art of over-reaching, that I could but take my revenge on one I have spite to...
• John Gill (Reformed Baptist), Exposition of the Old and New Testaments on Proverbs 12:12: The wicked desireth the net of evil men,.... To be master of all the wicked arts and methods evil men use to ensnare and oppress others; to get them and their substance into their hands; or "desireth the evil net", as the Targum; the evil net of antichrist, which he lays for the poor, whom he draws into it and catches them; see Psa 10:9.
• Jamieson-Fausset-Brown (Reformed), Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible on Proverbs 12:12: the wicked . . . evil--They love the crafty arts of deception. the root . . . fruit--their own resources supply them; or, it may be rendered: "He (God) giveth, or, sets (Eze 17:22) the root of the righteous," and hence it is firm: or, the verb is impersonal; "As to the root . . . it is firm" (Pro 17:19).
• Geneva Bible Notes (Reformed), Geneva Bible Study Notes on Proverbs 12:12: The wicked desireth the net of evil [men]: but the root of the righteous yieldeth [fruit]. (e) Continually imagines ways to harm others. (f) Meaning, their heart within, which is upright, and does good to all.