Like glaze covering an earthen vessel are burning lips and a wicked heart.
Parallel translations
- WEB Like silver dross on an earthen vessel are the lips of a fervent one with an evil heart.
- KJV Burning lips and a wicked heart are like a potsherd covered with silver dross.
- NKJV Fervent lips with a wicked heart Are like earthenware covered with silver dross.
- NASB Like an earthenware vessel overlaid with silver impurities Are burning lips and a wicked heart.
- NLT Smooth words may hide a wicked heart, just as a pretty glaze covers a clay pot.
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
Smooth lips over an evil heart are like a cheap pot coated with a thin silver glaze. A pleasing surface can hide inner corruption.
Overview
The image of glazing over common clay pictures attractive words masking a malicious heart. It warns that eloquence is no proof of integrity. Scripture consistently calls us to look beyond outward speech to the heart, which God alone fully sees (1 Sam 16:7; Matt 23:27).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- Luke 22:47–48While He was still speaking, a crowd arrived, led by the man called Judas, one of the Twelve. He approached Jesus to kiss Him.
- Luke 11:39“Now then,” said the Lord, “you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness.
- Prov 10:18The one who conceals hatred has lying lips, and whoever spreads slander is a fool.
- Ezek 33:31So My people come to you as usual, sit before you, and hear your words; but they do not put them into practice. Although they express love with their mouths, their hearts pursue dishonest gain.
- Prov 25:4Remove the dross from the silver, and a vessel for a silversmith will come forth.
- Matt 23:27Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside, but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and every kind of impurity.
- 2 Sam 20:9–10“Are you well, my brother?” Joab asked Amasa. And with his right hand Joab grabbed Amasa by the beard to kiss him.
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 26:23 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.