The words of the wicked are, “Lie in wait for blood,” But the mouth of the upright will 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.
- KJV The words of the wicked are to lie in wait for blood: but the mouth of the upright shall deliver them.
- BSB The words of the wicked lie in wait for blood, but the speech of the upright rescues 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 14:3The fool’s talk brings a rod to his back, but the lips of the wise protect them.
- Jer 5:26For among my people are found wicked men. They watch, as fowlers lie in wait. They set a trap. They catch men.
- Isa 59:7Their feet run to evil, and they hurry to shed innocent blood. Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity. desolation and destruction are in their paths.
- Prov 1:11–19If they say, “Come with us. Let’s lay in wait for blood. Let’s lurk secretly for the innocent without cause.
- Acts 23:15Now therefore, you with the council inform the commanding officer that he should bring him down to you tomorrow, as though you were going to judge his case more exactly. We are ready to kill him before he comes near.”
- 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 male and female slaves, I would have held my peace, although the adversary could not have compensated for the king’s loss.”
- Acts 23:12When it was day, some of the Jews banded together, and bound themselves under a curse, saying that they would neither eat nor drink until they had killed Paul.
- 2 Sam 17:1–4Moreover Ahithophel said to Absalom, “Let me now choose twelve thousand men, and I will arise and pursue after David tonight.
- Esth 4:7–14Mordecai told him of all that had happened to him, and the exact sum of the money that Haman had promised to pay to the king’s treasuries for the destruction of the Jews.
- Mic 7:1–2Misery is mine! Indeed, I am like one who gathers the summer fruits, as gleanings of the vineyard: There is no cluster of grapes to eat. My soul desires to eat the early fig.
- Acts 25:3asking a favor against him, that he would summon him to Jerusalem; plotting to kill him on the way.
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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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