Whoso walketh uprightly shall be saved: but he that is perverse in his ways shall fall at once.
Parallel translations
- WEB Whoever walks blamelessly is kept safe; but one with perverse ways will fall suddenly.
- BSB He who walks with integrity will be kept safe, but whoever is perverse in his ways will suddenly fall.
- NKJV Whoever walks blamelessly will be saved, But he who is perverse in his ways will suddenly fall.
- NASB One who walks blamelessly will receive help, But one who is crooked will fall all at once.
- NLT The blameless will be rescued from harm, but the crooked will be suddenly destroyed.
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 person of blameless conduct is kept safe, but the crooked will suddenly fall. It contrasts the security of integrity with the ruin of deceit.
Overview
Walking blamelessly brings protection, while perverse and crooked ways lead to sudden collapse. The verse assures that integrity is a path of safety under God's care. Ultimate safety is found not in our own perfection but in being clothed with the righteousness of Christ, in whom we are truly kept (Jude 24).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Prov 10:9He that walketh uprightly walketh surely: but he that perverteth his ways shall be known.
- Prov 28:6Better is the poor that walketh in his uprightness, than he that is perverse in his ways, though he be rich.
- Rev 3:3Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.
- Prov 11:3–6The integrity of the upright shall guide them: but the perverseness of transgressors shall destroy them.
- Ps 84:11For the LORD God is a sun and shield: the LORD will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.
- Num 22:32And the angel of the LORD said unto him, Wherefore hast thou smitten thine ass these three times? behold, I went out to withstand thee, because thy way is perverse before me:
- 1 Th 5:3For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.
- Ps 73:18–20Surely thou didst set them in slippery places: thou castedst them down into destruction.
- 2 Pet 2:1–3But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.
- Ps 125:5As for such as turn aside unto their crooked ways, the LORD shall lead them forth with the workers of iniquity: but peace shall be upon Israel.
- Prov 10:25As the whirlwind passeth, so is the wicked no more: but the righteous is an everlasting foundation.
- Ps 26:11But as for me, I will walk in mine integrity: redeem me, and be merciful unto me.
- Ps 25:21Let integrity and uprightness preserve me; for I wait on thee.
- Gal 2:14But when I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel, I said unto Peter before them all, If thou, being a Jew, livest after the manner of Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why compellest thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews?
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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 28:18 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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