Therefore the prudent shall keep silence in that time; for it is an evil time.
Parallel translations
- WEB Therefore a prudent person keeps silent in such a time, for it is an evil time.
- BSB Therefore, the prudent keep silent in such times, for the days are evil.
- 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 thus saith the LORD; Behold, against this family do I devise an evil, from which ye shall not remove your necks; neither shall ye go haughtily: for this time is evil.
- 2 Tim 3:1This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.
- Hos 4:4Yet let no man strive, nor reprove another: for thy people are as they that strive with the priest.
- Eph 5:15–16See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise,
- Eccl 3:7A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
- Matt 27:12–14And when he was accused of the chief priests and elders, he answered nothing.
- Hab 3:16When I heard, my belly trembled; my lips quivered at the voice: rottenness entered into my bones, and I trembled in myself, that I might rest in the day of trouble: when he cometh up unto the people, he will invade them with his troops.
- Mic 7:5–7Trust ye not in a friend, put ye not confidence in a guide: keep the doors of thy mouth from her that lieth in thy bosom.
- Eph 6:13Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
- Isa 36:21But they held their peace, and answered him not a word: for the king’s commandment was, saying, Answer him not.
- Eccl 9:12For man also knoweth not his time: as the fishes that are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare; so are the sons of men snared in an evil time, when it falleth suddenly upon them.
- Isa 37:3And they said unto him, Thus saith Hezekiah, This day is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and of blasphemy: for the children are come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth.
- Zeph 2:2–3Before the decree bring forth, before the day pass as the chaff, before the fierce anger of the LORD come upon you, before the day of the LORD’s anger come upon you.
- Amos 6:10And a man’s uncle shall take him up, and he that burneth him, to bring out the bones out of the house, and shall say unto him that is by the sides of the house, Is there yet any with thee? and he shall say, No. Then shall he say, Hold thy tongue: for we may not make mention of the name of the LORD.
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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.