My son, fear the LORD and the king;Do not associate with those given to change;
For their calamity will rise suddenly,And who knows the ruin those two can bring?
Proverbs 24:21–22 · NKJVPart of Fear the LORD and the King, Proverbs 24:21–22.
Quick answer
The reason is the speed of it. Disaster arrives without warning in that kind of company, and the saying ends by admitting nobody can measure how bad it gets.
Read the whole unit
Read the whole unit
This is the last of the Thirty Sayings and it is a political one, so it needs reading carefully in both directions.
What it says is bounded. It addresses a son in an ancient monarchy, it pairs reverence for God with respect for the throne without equating them, and the specific danger it names is company: those given to change, a phrase for people committed to overturning the order. The warning is about proximity to that agitation, and the stated risk is practical rather than moral. Calamity comes suddenly, and the closing question, who knows the ruin, is genuine rather than rhetorical.
What the saying does not do is worth stating as plainly. It offers no theory of government, endorses no ruler, and provides no test of loyalty. Proverbs elsewhere is blunt that a ruler's wrath is the roaring of a lion (19:12, 20:2), that a king's heart is in the hand of the LORD and gets turned wherever He wishes (21:1), and that "it is an abomination for kings to commit wickedness, for a throne is established by righteousness" (16:12). The book that says fear the king also says what a king owes and who holds him. A saying about not attaching yourself to insurrectionists in an ancient court is not a position on any modern political question, and the catalog names no party, platform, or nation.
What this verse contributes
the reason, which is suddenness, and the closing admission that the extent is unknowable.
The other half
Give God and the king their due, and keep away from people agitating for upheaval. The saying is practical counsel to a young man in a monarchy.
Related: Proverbs 16:12 · Proverbs 20:2 · Proverbs 19:12 · Proverbs 21:1
New King James Version®, Copyright © 1982, Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved. Full copyright information. Scripture provided by API.Bible.
Go Deeper
If this verse has been used to put weight on you that it was never carrying, ask about it directly.