The righteous is more excellent than his neighbour: but the way of the wicked seduceth them.
Parallel translations
- WEB A righteous person is cautious in friendship, but the way of the wicked leads them astray.
- BSB A righteous man is cautious in friendship, but the ways of the wicked lead them astray.
- NKJV The righteous should choose his friends carefully, For the way of the wicked leads them astray.
- NASB The righteous person is a guide to his neighbor, But the way of the wicked leads them astray.
- NLT The godly give good advice to their friends; the wicked lead them astray.
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
The righteous choose their friends carefully, but the way of the wicked leads them astray. Wise discernment in relationships keeps us on the right path.
Overview
Though the Hebrew of this verse is somewhat difficult and variously rendered, the sense is that the righteous guide others or choose their associations wisely, while the way of the wicked misleads. It commends careful discernment in friendship and influence. Walking in righteousness, and choosing companions who do the same, helps keep believers on the path of life.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- 1 Jn 2:26These things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you.
- Jas 1:13–14Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man:
- Matt 5:46–48For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?
- Prov 17:27He that hath knowledge spareth his words: and a man of understanding is of an excellent spirit.
- Ps 18:12–13At the brightness that was before him his thick clouds passed, hail stones and coals of fire.
- Prov 12:13The wicked is snared by the transgression of his lips: but the just shall come out of trouble.
- Luke 6:32–36For if ye love them which love you, what thank have ye? for sinners also love those that love them.
- 2 Pet 2:18–22For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them who live in error.
- Rev 12:9And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.
- 1 Pet 2:18–21Servants, be subject to your masters with all fear; not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward.
- Rev 13:14And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.
- Ps 16:3But to the saints that are in the earth, and to the excellent, in whom is all my delight.
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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 12:26 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.