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  What it means

  Literally “revenge is the delight of the gods,” this expression frames vengeance as something grand, pleasurable, and almost divine — something the gods themselves enjoy. It is used to justify or celebrate getting back at someone who wronged you, often with a sense of dark satisfaction. Poles cite it when savoring a moment of poetic justice or when someone finally gets what they deserve.

  Vocabulary

  • zemsta — revenge, vengeance
  • rozkoszą — delight, pleasure (instrumental of rozkosz)
  • bogów — of the gods (genitive plural of bóg)

  Grammar note

  The sentence uses the instrumental case for the predicate noun: 'jest rozkoszą' (is a delight), which is a standard Polish copula construction with 'jest' + instrumental. 'Bogów' is the genitive plural of 'bóg' (god), used as a genitive of possession. The nominative subject 'zemsta' and instrumental predicate 'rozkoszą' are the grammatical core.

  Cultural context

  This phrase is also the title of a famous 19th-century comedy play by Aleksander Fredro ('Zemsta,' 1834), one of the most celebrated works of Polish theatre. Because of this cultural weight, the expression carries a literary flavour and is often used with irony or self-awareness. In English, the closest equivalent is 'revenge is sweet' or the Latin 'dulcis in fundo.'

  Intermediate

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