Wages of virtue and vice: The wages of the righteous is life, but the earnings of the wicked bring punishment. The righteous's actions yield life (chayim, fullness and flourishing). The wicked's earnings bring punishment (chattat, sin-offering, or more broadly, destruction). This indicates that conduct naturally generates its own consequences. The righteous path leads to life; the wicked path to destruction. No external judge is needed; morality is built into the fabric of existence.

COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS

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