Lying lips are abomination to the LORD: but they that deal truly are his delight.
Parallel translations
- WEB Lying lips are an abomination to Yahweh, but those who do the truth are his delight.
- BSB Lying lips are detestable to the LORD, but those who deal faithfully are His delight.
- NKJV Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, But those who deal truthfully are His delight.
- NASB Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, But those who deal faithfully are His delight.
- NLT The Lord detests lying lips, but he delights in those who tell the truth.
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
Lying lips are detestable to God, but truthful people are His delight. The Lord loves truth and hates deceit.
Overview
This proverb declares God's strong moral response: He abhors lying lips and delights in those who deal truthfully. Honesty is not merely social etiquette but a reflection of God's own nature. The God who cannot lie calls His people to truthfulness as those remade in the image of Christ, who is full of grace and truth.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Ps 5:6Thou shalt destroy them that speak leasing: the LORD will abhor the bloody and deceitful man.
- Rev 22:15For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.
- Prov 6:16–17These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him:
- Prov 11:20They that are of a froward heart are abomination to the LORD: but such as are upright in their way are his delight.
- Jer 9:24But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the LORD which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the LORD.
- Isa 9:15The ancient and honourable, he is the head; and the prophet that teacheth lies, he is the tail.
- Prov 11:1A false balance is abomination to the LORD: but a just weight is his delight.
- Ezek 13:22Because with lies ye have made the heart of the righteous sad, whom I have not made sad; and strengthened the hands of the wicked, that he should not return from his wicked way, by promising him life:
- Prov 15:8The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD: but the prayer of the upright is his delight.
- Ezek 13:19And will ye pollute me among my people for handfuls of barley and for pieces of bread, to slay the souls that should not die, and to save the souls alive that should not live, by your lying to my people that hear your lies?
- Rev 21:8But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.
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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 12:22 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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