Righteousness guards the man of integrity, but wickedness undermines the sinner.
Parallel translations
- WEB Righteousness guards the way of integrity, but wickedness overthrows the sinner.
- KJV Righteousness keepeth him that is upright in the way: but wickedness overthroweth the sinner.
- NKJV Righteousness guards him whose way is blameless, But wickedness overthrows the sinner.
- NASB Righteousness guards the one whose way is blameless, But wickedness brings the sinner to ruin.
- NLT Godliness guards the path of the blameless, but the evil are misled by sin.
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
Righteousness protects those who walk with integrity, but wickedness ruins the sinner. Moral character shapes one's destiny.
Overview
This proverb personifies righteousness as a guardian over the upright path and wickedness as a destructive force that overthrows the sinner. The contrast is not merely about outcomes but about the inherent direction each way leads. Ultimately it is Christ's righteousness, received by faith, that truly guards the believer and secures the way of life.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Prov 11:3The integrity of the upright guides them, but the perversity of the faithless destroys them.
- Prov 11:5–6The righteousness of the blameless directs their path, but the wicked fall by their own wickedness.
- Ps 26:1Of David. Vindicate me, O LORD! For I have walked with integrity; I have trusted in the LORD without wavering.
- Ps 15:2He who walks with integrity and practices righteousness, who speaks the truth from his heart,
- Ps 140:11May no slanderer be established in the land; may calamity hunt down the man of violence.
- Prov 21:12The Righteous One considers the house of the wicked and brings the wicked to ruin.
- Ps 25:21May integrity and uprightness preserve me, because I wait for You.
- Prov 5:22The iniquities of a wicked man entrap him; the cords of his sin entangle him.
- 2 Chr 28:23Since Damascus had defeated him, he sacrificed to their gods and said, “Because the gods of the kings of Aram have helped them, I will sacrifice to them that they may help me.” But these gods were the downfall of Ahaz and of all Israel.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 13:6 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
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.