Therefore, the prudent keep silent in such times, for the days are evil.
Parallel translations
- WEB Therefore a prudent person keeps silent in such a time, for it is an evil time.
- KJV Therefore the prudent shall keep silence in that time; for it is an evil time.
- NKJV Therefore the prudent keep silent at that time, For it is an evil time.
- NASB Therefore at such a time the prudent person keeps quiet, because it is an evil time.
- NLT So those who are smart keep their mouths shut, for it is an evil time.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
In such a corrupt age the wise stay silent, because speaking justice brings persecution. It marks how thoroughly society had turned against truth.
Overview
This verse describes an 'evil time' so hostile that prudence counsels restraint, since honest testimony invites retaliation in a court system run by the wicked. It is a lament over a culture where righteousness is dangerous, not an endorsement of cowardice. Christ later confronts a similarly hardened generation, choosing the cross over self-protection to save his people.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Mic 2:3Therefore this is what the LORD says: “I am planning against this nation a disaster from which you cannot free your necks. Then you will not walk so proudly, for it will be a time of calamity.
- 2 Tim 3:1But understand this: In the last days terrible times will come.
- Hos 4:4But let no man contend; let no man offer reproof; for your people are like those who contend with a priest.
- Eph 5:15–16Pay careful attention, then, to how you walk, not as unwise but as wise,
- Eccl 3:7a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak,
- Matt 27:12–14And when He was accused by the chief priests and elders, He gave no answer.
- Hab 3:16I heard and trembled within; my lips quivered at the sound. Decay entered my bones; I trembled where I stood. Yet I must wait patiently for the day of distress to come upon the people who invade us.
- Mic 7:5–7Do not rely on a friend; do not trust in a companion. Seal the doors of your mouth from her who lies in your arms.
- Eph 6:13Therefore take up the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you will be able to stand your ground, and having done everything, to stand.
- Isa 36:21But the people remained silent and did not answer a word, for Hezekiah had commanded, “Do not answer him.”
- Eccl 9:12For surely no man knows his time: Like fish caught in a cruel net or birds trapped in a snare, so men are ensnared in an evil time that suddenly falls upon them.
- Isa 37:3to tell him, “This is what Hezekiah says: Today is a day of distress, rebuke, and disgrace; for children have come to the point of birth, but there is no strength to deliver them.
- Zeph 2:2–3before the decree takes effect and the day passes like chaff, before the burning anger of the LORD comes upon you, before the Day of the LORD’s anger comes upon you.
- Amos 6:10And when the relative who is to burn the bodies picks them up to remove them from the house, he will call to one inside, “Is anyone else with you?” “None,” that person will answer. “Silence,” the relative will retort, “for the name of the LORD must not be invoked.”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Amid judgment on injustice, Amos promises the raising up of David's fallen tent — read by James in Acts 15 as the ingathering of the nations into the kingdom of the risen Christ.
How Amos 5:13 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.