The words of the wicked are to lie in wait for blood: but the mouth of the upright shall deliver them.
Parallel translations
- WEB The words of the wicked are about lying in wait for blood, but the speech of the upright rescues them.
- BSB The words of the wicked lie in wait for blood, but the speech of the upright rescues them.
- NKJV The words of the wicked are, “Lie in wait for blood,” But the mouth of the upright will deliver them.
- NASB The words of the wicked wait in ambush for blood, But the mouth of the upright will rescue them.
- NLT The words of the wicked are like a murderous ambush, but the words of the godly save lives.
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 words of the wicked lie in wait to harm, but the speech of the upright rescues. Speech can be a deadly trap or a means of deliverance.
Overview
The proverb sets murderous, ensnaring speech against words that rescue and protect, showing the moral power of the tongue. The wicked use words to ambush, while the upright use them to save. Believers are called to use their speech for the good and deliverance of others, reflecting the saving word of the gospel.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Prov 14:3In the mouth of the foolish is a rod of pride: but the lips of the wise shall preserve them.
- Jer 5:26For among my people are found wicked men: they lay wait, as he that setteth snares; they set a trap, they catch men.
- Isa 59:7Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood: their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; wasting and destruction are in their paths.
- Prov 1:11–19If they say, Come with us, let us lay wait for blood, let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause:
- Acts 23:15Now therefore ye with the council signify to the chief captain that he bring him down unto you to morrow, as though ye would enquire something more perfectly concerning him: and we, or ever he come near, are ready to kill him.
- Esth 7:4–6For we are sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be slain, and to perish. But if we had been sold for bondmen and bondwomen, I had held my tongue, although the enemy could not countervail the king’s damage.
- Acts 23:12And when it was day, certain of the Jews banded together, and bound themselves under a curse, saying that they would neither eat nor drink till they had killed Paul.
- 2 Sam 17:1–4Moreover Ahithophel said unto Absalom, Let me now choose out twelve thousand men, and I will arise and pursue after David this night:
- Esth 4:7–14And Mordecai told him of all that had happened unto him, and of the sum of the money that Haman had promised to pay to the king’s treasuries for the Jews, to destroy them.
- Mic 7:1–2Woe is me! for I am as when they have gathered the summer fruits, as the grapegleanings of the vintage: there is no cluster to eat: my soul desired the firstripe fruit.
- Acts 25:3And desired favour against him, that he would send for him to Jerusalem, laying wait in the way to kill him.
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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 12:6 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
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