The Lord approves of those who are good, but he condemns those who plan wickedness.
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.
- BSB The good man obtains favor from the LORD, but the LORD condemns a man who devises evil.
- 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.
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 will obtain favor from Yahweh.
- Acts 11:24For he was a good man, and full of the Holy Spirit and of faith, and many people were added to the Lord.
- Ps 112:5It is well with the man who deals graciously and lends. He will maintain his cause in judgment.
- Rom 5:7For one will hardly die for a righteous man. Yet perhaps for a righteous person someone would even dare to die.
- Isa 32:5–7The fool will no longer be called noble, nor the scoundrel be highly respected.
- Prov 1:31Therefore they will eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own schemes.
- Eccl 8:8There is no man who has power over the spirit to contain the spirit; neither does he have power over the day of death. There is no discharge in war; neither shall wickedness deliver those who practice it.
- Prov 6:18a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are swift in running to mischief,
- Ps 9:15The nations have sunk down in the pit that they made. In the net which they hid, their own foot is taken.
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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.