Seven Falls, Seven Rises

Modern English: For a righteous man falls seven times, and rises up again; but the wicked are overthrown by calamity.

The proverb carries two claims about the just man. The first is about character: rising again is not merely what the righteous do, it is what righteousness means. To fall seven times and stand again defines the just man more than the falling does. Seven in Hebrew signifies completeness, as many times as it takes. The second claim is about source: that God is what makes the rising possible, that divine strength is not the prevention of adversity but the capacity to endure it.