A wicked man hardeneth his face: but as for the upright, he directeth his way.
Parallel translations
- WEB A wicked man hardens his face; but as for the upright, he establishes his ways.
- BSB A wicked man hardens his face, but the upright man makes his way sure.
- NKJV A wicked man hardens his face, But as for the upright, he establishes his way.
- NASB A wicked person displays a bold face, But as for the upright, he makes his way sure.
- NLT The wicked bluff their way through, but the virtuous think before they act.
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 wicked put on a brazen face, but the upright order their ways thoughtfully. It matters because it contrasts hardened defiance with humble integrity.
Overview
A wicked man bluffs with a hard, defiant face, while the upright give careful thought to establish a right path (Proverbs 14:8; 15:21). The contrast is between stubborn presumption and considered integrity. Wisdom walks circumspectly, while folly brazens it out.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 16
- 1 Th 3:11Now God himself and our Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, direct our way unto you.
- Hag 1:7Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways.
- Prov 11:5The righteousness of the perfect shall direct his way: but the wicked shall fall by his own wickedness.
- Prov 28:14Happy is the man that feareth alway: but he that hardeneth his heart shall fall into mischief.
- Prov 29:1He, that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy.
- Ezek 18:28Because he considereth, and turneth away from all his transgressions that he hath committed, he shall surely live, he shall not die.
- Hag 2:18–19Consider now from this day and upward, from the four and twentieth day of the ninth month, even from the day that the foundation of the LORD’s temple was laid, consider it.
- Ps 119:5O that my ways were directed to keep thy statutes!
- Jer 5:3O LORD, are not thine eyes upon the truth? thou hast stricken them, but they have not grieved; thou hast consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction: they have made their faces harder than a rock; they have refused to return.
- Jer 8:12Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore shall they fall among them that fall: in the time of their visitation they shall be cast down, saith the LORD.
- Ps 119:59I thought on my ways, and turned my feet unto thy testimonies.
- Jer 44:16–17As for the word that thou hast spoken unto us in the name of the LORD, we will not hearken unto thee.
- Luke 15:17–18And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!
- Jer 3:2–3Lift up thine eyes unto the high places, and see where thou hast not been lien with. In the ways hast thou sat for them, as the Arabian in the wilderness; and thou hast polluted the land with thy whoredoms and with thy wickedness.
- Hag 2:15And now, I pray you, consider from this day and upward, from before a stone was laid upon a stone in the temple of the LORD:
- Hag 1:5Now therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways.
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 21:29 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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