Like a muddied spring or a polluted well is a righteous man who gives way to the wicked.
Parallel translations
- WEB Like a muddied spring, and a polluted well, so is a righteous man who gives way before the wicked.
- KJV A righteous man falling down before the wicked is as a troubled fountain, and a corrupt spring.
- NKJV A righteous man who falters before the wicked Is like a murky spring and a polluted well.
- NASB Like a trampled spring and a polluted well, So is a righteous person who gives way before the wicked.
- NLT If the godly give in to the wicked, it’s like polluting a fountain or muddying a spring.
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
A righteous person who caves before the wicked is like a fouled spring or polluted well. Moral compromise spoils what should refresh others.
Overview
The righteous are meant to be a source of life and blessing, so when they yield to evil, the harm is like contaminating a community's water supply. The proverb warns against compromise that ruins one's good influence. It calls believers to steadfastness, as Christ remained unyielding in righteousness for our sake.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Ezek 34:18–19Is it not enough for you to feed on the good pasture? Must you also trample the rest of the pasture with your feet? Is it not enough for you to drink the clear waters? Must you also muddy the rest with your feet?
- 1 Sam 22:14–18Ahimelech answered the king, “Who among all your servants is as faithful as David, the king’s son-in-law, the captain of your bodyguard who is honored in your house?
- 1 Th 2:15who killed both the Lord Jesus and their own prophets, and drove us out as well. They are displeasing to God and hostile to all men,
- 2 Chr 24:21–22But they conspired against Zechariah, and by order of the king, they stoned him in the courtyard of the house of the LORD.
- Acts 7:52Which of the prophets did your fathers fail to persecute? They even killed those who foretold the coming of the Righteous One. And now you are His betrayers and murderers—
- Rev 17:6I could see that the woman was drunk with the blood of the saints and witnesses for Jesus. And I was utterly amazed at the sight of her.
- Gen 4:8Then Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let us go out to the field.” And while they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him.
- Matt 23:34–37Because of this, I am sending you prophets and wise men and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify, and others you will flog in your synagogues and persecute in town after town.
- Matt 26:69–74Meanwhile, Peter was sitting out in the courtyard, and a servant girl came up to him. “You also were with Jesus the Galilean,” she said.
- Ezek 32:2“Son of man, take up a lament for Pharaoh king of Egypt and say to him: ‘You are like a lion among the nations; you are like a monster in the seas. You thrash about in your rivers, churning up the waters with your feet and muddying the streams.’
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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 25:26 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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