A righteous man hates lies, but a wicked man brings shame and disgrace.
Parallel translations
- KJV A righteous man hateth lying: but a wicked man is loathsome, and cometh to shame.
- BSB The righteous hate falsehood, but the wicked bring shame and disgrace.
- NKJV A righteous man hates lying, But a wicked man is loathsome and comes to shame.
- NASB A righteous person hates a false statement, But a wicked person acts disgustingly and shamefully.
- NLT The godly hate lies; the wicked cause shame and disgrace.
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 righteous hate falsehood, while the wicked bring shame on themselves. Our attitude toward truth reveals the state of our hearts.
Overview
Proverbs repeatedly ties character to one's relationship with truth, since God Himself is truth and cannot lie. The righteous share God's hatred of falsehood, while the wicked, by contrast, earn shame and disgrace through their conduct. This anticipates Christ, who is 'the truth' (John 14:6) and exposes the works of darkness.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Col 3:9Don’t lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old man with his doings,
- Ps 119:163I hate and abhor falsehood. I love your law.
- Eph 4:25Therefore putting away falsehood, speak truth each one with his neighbor. For we are members of one another.
- Ezek 36:31Then you shall remember your evil ways, and your doings that were not good; and you shall loathe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and for your abominations.
- Ezek 20:43There you shall remember your ways, and all your doings, in which you have polluted yourselves; and you shall loathe yourselves in your own sight for all your evils that you have committed.
- Prov 3:35The wise will inherit glory, but shame will be the promotion of fools.
- Rev 21:8But for the cowardly, unbelieving, sinners, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their part is in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”
- Zech 11:8I cut off the three shepherds in one month; for my soul was weary of them, and their soul also loathed me.
- Dan 12:2Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.
- Prov 30:8Remove far from me falsehood and lies. Give me neither poverty nor riches. Feed me with the food that is needful for me;
- Prov 6:17haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood;
- Ezek 6:9Those of you that escape will remember me among the nations where they are carried captive, how I have been broken with their lewd heart, which has departed from me, and with their eyes, which play the prostitute after their idols. Then they will loathe themselves in their own sight for the evils which they have committed in all their abominations.
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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 13:5 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
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