Closes the three-verse saying on partiality in judgment, Proverbs 24:23–25.
Quick answer
The judge who calls it correctly gets the opposite of the curse: delight, and a blessing described simply as good.
Read the whole unit
Principle, then the corrupt verdict and the world's curse, then this: the honest one and what comes to him. The unit is a two-column comparison with the reader sitting in the judge's chair.
Read the whole unit
A new collection starts here. "These things also belong to the wise" is an editorial header, one of several places where the book of Proverbs shows its own seams and tells the reader that what follows was gathered from somewhere else. What follows immediately is a three-verse saying about corrupt courts, which is a revealing choice of opening.
The subject is הַכֵּר־פָּנִים, footnoted by the NKJV as literally recognize faces: deciding a case by who is standing in front of you. The unit moves from the principle (v. 23) to the verdict that violates it (v. 24) to the alternative and its reward (v. 25). What makes it sting is the scale of the reaction in verse 24. Peoples curse and nations abhor the judge who acquits the guilty, which is a global response to a local courtroom, and it says that a rigged verdict is felt as an injury by everyone who hears about it. The unit belongs to the mishpat thread that runs from 13:23 through chapters 21 and 22, and its central verse is the near-twin of 17:15.
What this verse contributes
The alternative, and the fact that it is stated as pleasure rather than as duty. The verb is about being pleasant or delightful, so the saying claims the honest judge's own experience is better, not merely his reputation. That matters because verse 24 has just made the cost of integrity vivid, and someone reading it could conclude that honesty is simply the less comfortable option. This verse says otherwise. Note also that the blessing is not specified. It is a good blessing, left open, which is this literature's way of promising something real without pretending to know its shape.
Related: Proverbs 28:23 · Proverbs 27:5–6 · Proverbs 21:15
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.