for their hearts devise violence, and their lips declare trouble.
Parallel translations
- WEB for their hearts plot violence, and their lips talk about mischief.
- KJV For their heart studieth destruction, and their lips talk of mischief.
- NKJV For their heart devises violence, And their lips talk of troublemaking.
- NASB For their minds plot violence, And their lips talk of trouble.
- NLT For their hearts plot violence, and their words always stir up trouble.
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 are not to be envied, for their hearts and words are bent on violence and trouble.
Overview
This gives the reason not to envy the wicked: their inner life is consumed with plotting harm. Heart and speech alike are devoted to mischief and destruction. Such a portrait reminds us that what looks enviable on the surface conceals a corrupt center, the very heart Christ came to renew (Ezek. 36:26).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 16
- Ps 7:14Behold, the wicked man travails with evil; he conceives trouble and births falsehood.
- Ps 10:7His mouth is full of cursing, deceit, and violence; trouble and malice are under his tongue.
- Ps 28:3Do not drag me away with the wicked, and with the workers of iniquity, who speak peace to their neighbors while malice is in their hearts.
- Isa 59:4No one calls for justice; no one pleads his case honestly. They rely on empty pleas; they tell lies; they conceive mischief and give birth to iniquity.
- 1 Sam 23:9When David learned that Saul was plotting evil against him, he said to Abiathar the priest, “Bring the ephod.”
- Job 15:35They conceive trouble and give birth to evil; their womb is pregnant with deceit.”
- Esth 3:6–7And when he learned the identity of Mordecai’s people, he scorned the notion of laying hands on Mordecai alone. Instead, he sought to destroy all of Mordecai’s people, the Jews, throughout the kingdom of Xerxes.
- Matt 26:3–4At that time the chief priests and elders of the people assembled in the courtyard of the high priest, whose name was Caiaphas,
- Ps 36:4Even on his bed he plots wickedness; he sets himself on a path that is not good; he fails to reject evil.
- Acts 13:10and said, “O child of the devil and enemy of all righteousness, you are full of all kinds of deceit and trickery! Will you never stop perverting the straight ways of the Lord?
- Prov 6:14With deceit in his heart he devises evil; he continually sows discord.
- Mic 7:3Both hands are skilled at evil; the prince and the judge demand a bribe. When the powerful utters his evil desire, they all conspire together.
- Ps 64:4–6ambushing the innocent in seclusion, shooting suddenly, without fear.
- Luke 23:20–21Wanting to release Jesus, Pilate addressed them again,
- Ps 140:2who devise evil in their hearts and stir up war all day long.
- Prov 24:8He who plots evil will be called a schemer.
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 24:2 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.