The one who conceals hatred has lying lips, and whoever spreads slander is a fool.
Parallel translations
- WEB He who hides hatred has lying lips. He who utters a slander is a fool.
- KJV He that hideth hatred with lying lips, and he that uttereth a slander, is a fool.
- NKJV Whoever hides hatred has lying lips, And whoever spreads slander is a fool.
- NASB One who conceals hatred has lying lips, And one who spreads slander is a fool.
- NLT Hiding hatred makes you a liar; slandering others makes you a fool.
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
Hiding hatred makes for lying lips, and spreading slander marks a fool. Both concealed hatred and open slander are forms of folly and deceit.
Overview
This verse exposes two sins of the tongue: concealing hatred behind false words, and broadcasting slander. Both are condemned as deceitful and foolish. Scripture calls believers to truthful, loving speech that neither masks malice nor spreads it, in keeping with the integrity God requires (Ephesians 4:25, 29).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Prov 26:24–26A hateful man disguises himself with his speech, but he lays up deceit in his heart.
- Ps 55:21His speech is smooth as butter, but war is in his heart. His words are softer than oil, yet they are swords unsheathed.
- 2 Sam 3:27When Abner returned to Hebron, Joab pulled him aside into the gateway, as if to speak to him privately, and there Joab stabbed him in the stomach. So Abner died on account of the blood of Joab’s brother Asahel.
- 2 Sam 13:23–29Two years later, when Absalom’s sheepshearers were at Baal-hazor near Ephraim, he invited all the sons of the king.
- Ps 15:3who has no slander on his tongue, who does no harm to his neighbor, who casts no scorn on his friend,
- 1 Sam 18:29he grew even more afraid of David. So from then on Saul was David’s enemy.
- 2 Sam 20:9–10“Are you well, my brother?” Joab asked Amasa. And with his right hand Joab grabbed Amasa by the beard to kiss him.
- Luke 20:20–21So they watched Him closely and sent spies who pretended to be sincere. They were hoping to catch Him in His words in order to hand Him over to the rule and authority of the governor.
- Ps 5:9For not a word they speak can be trusted; destruction lies within them. Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit.
- Ps 101:5Whoever slanders his neighbor in secret, I will put to silence; the one with haughty eyes and a proud heart, I will not endure.
- Ps 50:20You sit and malign your brother; you slander your own mother’s son.
- Ps 12:2They lie to one another; they speak with flattering lips and a double heart.
- 1 Sam 18:21–22“I will give her to David,” Saul thought, “so that she may be a snare to him, and the hand of the Philistines may be against him.” So Saul said to David, “For a second time now you can be my son-in-law.”
- 2 Sam 11:8–15Then he said to Uriah, “Go down to your house and wash your feet.” So Uriah left the palace, and a gift from the king followed him.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 10:18 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.