The plans of the godly are just; the advice of the wicked is treacherous.
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.
- BSB The plans of the righteous are just, but the counsel of the wicked leads to 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.
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, God, and know my heart. Try me, and know my thoughts.
- Isa 55:7Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts. Let him return to Yahweh, and he will have mercy on him; and to our God, for he will freely pardon.
- Ps 41:6–7If he comes to see me, he speaks falsehood. His heart gathers iniquity to itself. When he goes abroad, he tells it.
- Jer 4:14Jerusalem, wash your heart from wickedness, that you may be saved. How long shall your evil thoughts lodge within you?
- Ps 140:1–3For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David. Deliver me, Yahweh, from the evil man. Preserve me from the violent man;
- Matt 26:4They took counsel together that they might take Jesus by deceit, and kill him.
- Prov 11:23The desire of the righteous is only good. The expectation of the wicked is wrath.
- Matt 2:16Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked by the wise men, was exceedingly angry, and sent out, and killed all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all the surrounding countryside, from two years old and under, according to the exact time which he had learned from the wise men.
- Ps 12:2–3Everyone lies to his neighbor. They speak with flattering lips, and with a double heart.
- Ps 119:15I will meditate on your precepts, and consider your ways.
- 2 Cor 4:2But we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by the manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.
- Prov 24:9The schemes of folly are sin. The mocker is detested by men.
- Matt 2:3–8When King Herod heard it, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.
- Ps 36:2–4For he flatters himself in his own eyes, too much to detect and hate his sin.
- 1 Cor 4:5Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and reveal the counsels of the hearts. Then each man will get 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.