A righteous man falling down before the wicked is as a troubled fountain, and a corrupt spring.
Parallel translations
- WEB Like a muddied spring, and a polluted well, so is a righteous man who gives way before the wicked.
- BSB Like a muddied spring or a polluted well is a righteous man who gives way to the wicked.
- ESV Like a muddied spring or a polluted fountain is a righteous man who gives way before the wicked.
- 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 quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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 34:18–19Seemeth it a small thing unto you to have eaten up the good pasture, but ye must tread down with your feet the residue of your pastures? and to have drunk of the deep waters, but ye must foul the residue with your feet?
- 1 Sam 22:14–18Then Ahimelech answered the king, and said, And who is so faithful among all thy servants as David, which is the king’s son in law, and goeth at thy bidding, and is honourable in thine house?
- 1 Th 2:15Who both killed the Lord Jesus, and their own prophets, and have persecuted us; and they please not God, and are contrary to all men:
- 2 Chr 24:21–22And they conspired against him, and stoned him with stones at the commandment of the king in the court of the house of the LORD.
- Acts 7:52Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them which shewed before of the coming of the Just One; of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers:
- Rev 17:6And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.
- Gen 4:8And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him.
- Matt 23:34–37Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city:
- Matt 26:69–74Now Peter sat without in the palace: and a damsel came unto him, saying, Thou also wast with Jesus of Galilee.
- Ezek 32:2Son of man, take up a lamentation for Pharaoh king of Egypt, and say unto him, Thou art like a young lion of the nations, and thou art as a whale in the seas: and thou camest forth with thy rivers, and troubledst the waters with thy feet, and fouledst their rivers.
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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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