The plans of the righteous are just, but the counsel of the wicked leads to deceit.
Parallel translations
- WEB The thoughts of the righteous are just, but the advice of the wicked is deceitful.
- KJV The thoughts of the righteous are right: but the counsels of the wicked are deceit.
- ESV The thoughts of the righteous are just; the counsels of the wicked are deceitful.
- NKJV The thoughts of the righteous are right, But the counsels of the wicked are deceitful.
- NASB The thoughts of the righteous are just, But the counsels of the wicked are deceitful.
- NLT The plans of the godly are just; the advice of the wicked is treacherous.
Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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 plans of the righteous are just, but the counsel of the wicked is deceitful. Our inner thoughts and advice reveal our true character.
Overview
This proverb contrasts the just intentions of the righteous with the deceitful schemes of the wicked. What we plan and counsel flows from the heart and shows what we are. The transformation of the inner life, so that even our thoughts become just, is the work of God's renewing grace in Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 15
- Ps 139:23Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my concerns.
- Isa 55:7Let the wicked man forsake his own way and the unrighteous man his own thoughts; let him return to the LORD, that He may have compassion, and to our God, for He will freely pardon.
- Ps 41:6–7My visitor speaks falsehood; he gathers slander in his heart; he goes out and spreads it abroad.
- Jer 4:14Wash the evil from your heart, O Jerusalem, so that you may be saved. How long will you harbor wicked thoughts within you?
- Ps 140:1–3For the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. Rescue me, O LORD, from evil men. Protect me from men of violence,
- Matt 26:4and they conspired to arrest Jesus covertly and kill Him.
- Prov 11:23The desire of the righteous leads only to good, but the hope of the wicked brings wrath.
- Matt 2:16When Herod saw that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was filled with rage. Sending orders, he put to death all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, according to the time he had learned from the Magi.
- Ps 12:2–3They lie to one another; they speak with flattering lips and a double heart.
- Ps 119:15I will meditate on Your precepts and regard Your ways.
- 2 Cor 4:2Instead, we have renounced secret and shameful ways. We do not practice deceit, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by open proclamation of the truth, we commend ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.
- Prov 24:9A foolish scheme is sin, and a mocker is detestable to men.
- Matt 2:3–8When King Herod heard this, he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him.
- Ps 36:2–4For his eyes are too full of conceit to detect or hate his own sin.
- 1 Cor 4:5Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait until the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men’s hearts. At that time each will receive his praise from God.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
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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 12:5 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.