If a ruler hearken to lies, all his servants are wicked.
Parallel translations
- WEB If a ruler listens to lies, all of his officials are wicked.
- BSB If a ruler listens to lies, all his officials will be wicked.
- NKJV If a ruler pays attention to lies, All his servants become wicked.
- NASB If a ruler pays attention to falsehood, All his ministers become wicked.
- NLT If a ruler pays attention to liars, all his advisers will be wicked.
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 ruler who heeds lies surrounds himself with wicked officials. It warns that leaders who welcome falsehood corrupt those who serve them.
Overview
The proverb teaches that when a ruler listens to lies, his servants become wicked, since they cater to his appetite for deception. Leadership that tolerates falsehood breeds corruption throughout. By contrast, Christ rules in truth and forms a people who love truth and reject deceit (John 14:6).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Prov 20:8A king that sitteth in the throne of judgment scattereth away all evil with his eyes.
- 2 Kgs 10:6–7Then he wrote a letter the second time to them, saying, If ye be mine, and if ye will hearken unto my voice, take ye the heads of the men your master’s sons, and come to me to Jezreel by to morrow this time. Now the king’s sons, being seventy persons, were with the great men of the city, which brought them up.
- Ps 101:5–7Whoso privily slandereth his neighbour, him will I cut off: him that hath an high look and a proud heart will not I suffer.
- 1 Sam 22:8–23That all of you have conspired against me, and there is none that sheweth me that my son hath made a league with the son of Jesse, and there is none of you that is sorry for me, or sheweth unto me that my son hath stirred up my servant against me, to lie in wait, as at this day?
- Ps 52:2–4Thy tongue deviseth mischiefs; like a sharp razor, working deceitfully.
- 2 Sam 4:5–12And the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, Rechab and Baanah, went, and came about the heat of the day to the house of Ishbosheth, who lay on a bed at noon.
- 2 Sam 3:7–11And Saul had a concubine, whose name was Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah: and Ishbosheth said to Abner, Wherefore hast thou gone in unto my father’s concubine?
- 1 Kgs 21:11–13And the men of his city, even the elders and the nobles who were the inhabitants in his city, did as Jezebel had sent unto them, and as it was written in the letters which she had sent unto them.
- 1 Sam 23:19–23Then came up the Ziphites to Saul to Gibeah, saying, Doth not David hide himself with us in strong holds in the wood, in the hill of Hachilah, which is on the south of Jeshimon?
- Prov 25:23The north wind driveth away rain: so doth an angry countenance a backbiting tongue.
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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 29:12 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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