In the lips of him that hath understanding wisdom is found: but a rod is for the back of him that is void of understanding.
Parallel translations
- WEB Wisdom is found on the lips of him who has discernment, but a rod is for the back of him who is void of understanding.
- BSB Wisdom is found on the lips of the discerning, but a rod is for the back of him who lacks judgment.
- NKJV Wisdom is found on the lips of him who has understanding, But a rod is for the back of him who is devoid of understanding.
- NASB On the lips of the discerning, wisdom is found, But a rod is for the back of him who has no sense.
- NLT Wise words come from the lips of people with understanding, but those lacking sense will be beaten with a rod.
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
Wisdom is on the lips of the discerning, but a rod awaits the senseless. Understanding speaks wisely; folly invites discipline.
Overview
The discerning person's speech reflects the wisdom within, while the one lacking sense brings discipline upon himself. The 'rod' points to the painful correction that folly ultimately reaps. This contrast underscores that wise speech flows from a wise heart and that folly carries its own consequences.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 16
- Prov 26:3A whip for the horse, a bridle for the ass, and a rod for the fool’s back.
- Prov 6:32But whoso committeth adultery with a woman lacketh understanding: he that doeth it destroyeth his own soul.
- Isa 50:4The Lord GOD hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary: he wakeneth morning by morning, he wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned.
- Prov 15:23A man hath joy by the answer of his mouth: and a word spoken in due season, how good is it!
- Prov 19:29Judgments are prepared for scorners, and stripes for the back of fools.
- Prov 20:15There is gold, and a multitude of rubies: but the lips of knowledge are a precious jewel.
- Prov 27:22Though thou shouldest bray a fool in a mortar among wheat with a pestle, yet will not his foolishness depart from him.
- Prov 10:31The mouth of the just bringeth forth wisdom: but the froward tongue shall be cut out.
- Ps 32:9Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding: whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come near unto thee.
- Prov 10:10–11He that winketh with the eye causeth sorrow: but a prating fool shall fall.
- Prov 15:7The lips of the wise disperse knowledge: but the heart of the foolish doeth not so.
- Prov 17:10A reproof entereth more into a wise man than an hundred stripes into a fool.
- Prov 10:21The lips of the righteous feed many: but fools die for want of wisdom.
- Luke 4:22And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. And they said, Is not this Joseph’s son?
- Prov 7:22He goeth after her straightway, as an ox goeth to the slaughter, or as a fool to the correction of the stocks;
- Exod 10:12And the LORD said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand over the land of Egypt for the locusts, that they may come up upon the land of Egypt, and eat every herb of the land, even all that the hail hath left.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Wisdom personified, with God before creation and the agent of all things, anticipates Christ 'in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom' — the wisdom of God made flesh.
How Proverbs 10:13 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
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