The good man obtains favor from the LORD, but the LORD condemns a man who devises evil.
Parallel translations
- WEB A good man shall obtain favor from Yahweh, but he will condemn a man of wicked devices.
- KJV A good man obtaineth favour of the LORD: but a man of wicked devices will he condemn.
- NKJV A good man obtains favor from the Lord, But a man of wicked intentions He will condemn.
- NASB A good person will obtain favor from the Lord, But He will condemn a person who devises evil.
- NLT The Lord approves of those who are good, but he condemns those who plan wickedness.
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 good man receives God's favor, but the schemer stands condemned. The Lord blesses the upright and judges those who devise evil.
Overview
This proverb traces favor and condemnation back to God Himself, who responds to character. Goodness draws His grace, while crafty wickedness draws His verdict of guilt. Ultimately favor with God rests not on our merit but on grace through Christ, who alone makes sinners acceptable to a holy God.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Prov 8:35For whoever finds me finds life and obtains the favor of the LORD.
- Acts 11:24Barnabas was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord.
- Ps 112:5It is well with the man who is generous and lends freely, whose affairs are guided by justice.
- Rom 5:7Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die.
- Isa 32:5–7No longer will a fool be called noble, nor a scoundrel be respected.
- Prov 1:31So they will eat the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices.
- Eccl 8:8As no man has power over the wind to contain it, so no one has authority over his day of death. As no one can be discharged in wartime, so wickedness will not release those who practice it.
- Prov 6:18a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that run swiftly to evil,
- Ps 9:15The nations have fallen into a pit of their making; their feet are caught in the net they have hidden.
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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 12:2 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.