Most men will proclaim every one his own goodness: but a faithful man who can find?
Parallel translations
- WEB Many men claim to be men of unfailing love, but who can find a faithful man?
- BSB Many a man proclaims his loving devotion, but who can find a trustworthy man?
- NKJV Most men will proclaim each his own goodness, But who can find a faithful man?
- NASB Many a person proclaims his own loyalty, But who can find a trustworthy person?
- NLT Many will say they are loyal friends, but who can find one who is truly reliable?
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
Many boast of their loyalty, but a truly faithful person is rare. Genuine, dependable faithfulness is hard to find.
Overview
This proverb observes that many men proclaim their own steadfast love, yet asks who can find a truly faithful man, exposing the gap between claimed and proven loyalty. It humbles human pretension and highlights the rarity of real faithfulness. This longing is answered in God, who is perfectly faithful (1 Cor. 1:9), and in Christ, the faithful witness (Rev. 1:5), who alone fully embodies the loyalty we so often lack.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Ps 12:1Help, LORD; for the godly man ceaseth; for the faithful fail from among the children of men.
- Matt 6:2Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
- Luke 18:8I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?
- Luke 22:33And he said unto him, Lord, I am ready to go with thee, both into prison, and to death.
- Prov 25:14Whoso boasteth himself of a false gift is like clouds and wind without rain.
- Prov 27:2Let another man praise thee, and not thine own mouth; a stranger, and not thine own lips.
- Luke 18:11The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican.
- Mic 7:2The good man is perished out of the earth: and there is none upright among men: they all lie in wait for blood; they hunt every man his brother with a net.
- Jer 5:1Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places thereof, if ye can find a man, if there be any that executeth judgment, that seeketh the truth; and I will pardon it.
- Eccl 7:28Which yet my soul seeketh, but I find not: one man among a thousand have I found; but a woman among all those have I not found.
- 2 Cor 12:11I am become a fool in glorying; ye have compelled me: for I ought to have been commended of you: for in nothing am I behind the very chiefest apostles, though I be nothing.
- Luke 18:28Then Peter said, Lo, we have left all, and followed thee.
- John 1:47Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and saith of him, Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 20:6 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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