A man who flatters his neighbor Spreads a net for his feet.
Parallel translations
- WEB A man who flatters his neighbor spreads a net for his feet.
- KJV A man that flattereth his neighbour spreadeth a net for his feet.
- BSB A man who flatters his neighbor spreads a net for his feet.
- NASB A man who flatters his neighbor Is spreading a net for his steps.
- NLT To flatter friends is to lay a trap for their feet.
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
Flattery, far from helping a neighbor, sets a trap for him. It warns that insincere praise is a snare rather than a kindness.
Overview
The proverb reveals that the one who flatters his neighbor is actually spreading a net for his feet, leading him into harm. Flattery deceives and endangers rather than serving genuine good. By contrast, the gospel produces sincere love that speaks truth, building others up rather than ensnaring them (Proverbs 27:6).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 15
- Job 17:5He who denounces his friends for plunder, Even the eyes of his children shall fail.
- Ps 5:9For there is no faithfulness in their mouth. Their heart is destruction. Their throat is an open tomb. They flatter with their tongue.
- Ps 12:2Everyone lies to his neighbor. They speak with flattering lips, and with a double heart.
- Hos 5:1“Listen to this, you priests! Listen, house of Israel, and give ear, house of the king! For the judgment is against you; for you have been a snare at Mizpah, and a net spread on Tabor.
- Lam 1:13“From on high has he sent fire into my bones, and it prevails against them; He has spread a net for my feet. He has turned me back. He has made me desolate and faint all day long.
- Prov 20:19He who goes about as a tale-bearer reveals secrets; therefore don’t keep company with him who opens wide his lips.
- 2 Sam 14:17–24Then your servant said, ‘Please let the word of my lord the king bring rest; for as an angel of God, so is my lord the king to discern good and bad. May Yahweh, your God, be with you.’”
- Rom 16:18For those who are such don’t serve our Lord, Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by their smooth and flattering speech, they deceive the hearts of the innocent.
- 1 Th 2:5For neither were we at any time found using words of flattery, as you know, nor a cloak of covetousness (God is witness),
- Prov 1:17For in vain is the net spread in the sight of any bird:
- Prov 7:5that they may keep you from the strange woman, from the foreigner who flatters with her words.
- Luke 20:20–21They watched him, and sent out spies, who pretended to be righteous, that they might trap him in something he said, so as to deliver him up to the power and authority of the governor.
- Prov 7:21With persuasive words, she led him astray. With the flattering of her lips, she seduced him.
- Prov 26:28A lying tongue hates those it hurts; and a flattering mouth works ruin.
- Prov 26:24–25A malicious man disguises himself with his lips, but he harbors evil in his heart.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 29:5 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.