Do not devise harm against your neighbor, While he lives securely beside you.
Parallel translations
- WEB Don’t devise evil against your neighbor, since he dwells securely by you.
- KJV Devise not evil against thy neighbour, seeing he dwelleth securely by thee.
- BSB Do not devise evil against your neighbor, for he trustfully dwells beside you.
- NKJV Do not devise evil against your neighbor, For he dwells by you for safety’s sake.
- NLT Don’t plot harm against your neighbor, for those who live nearby trust you.
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
Do not plot evil against a neighbor who trusts you and lives at peace beside you. Wisdom honors the trust of those around us.
Overview
To scheme harm against a neighbor who dwells securely is a betrayal of trust and a violation of love. The settled peace of community depends on such good faith. This command is summed up in loving one's neighbor as oneself (Lev 19:18; Rom 13:9-10), the heart of the law honored by Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Prov 6:14in whose heart is perverseness, who devises evil continually, who always sows discord.
- Ps 59:3For, behold, they lie in wait for my soul. The mighty gather themselves together against me, not for my disobedience, nor for my sin, Yahweh.
- Mic 2:1–2Woe to those who devise iniquity and work evil on their beds! When the morning is light, they practice it, because it is in the power of their hand.
- Prov 16:29–30A man of violence entices his neighbor, and leads him in a way that is not good.
- Ps 55:20He raises his hands against his friends. He has violated his covenant.
- Ps 35:20For they don’t speak peace, but they devise deceitful words against those who are quiet in the land.
- Prov 6:18a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are swift in running to mischief,
- Jer 18:18–20Then they said, “Come, and let us devise devices against Jeremiah; for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, and let us strike him with the tongue, and let us not give heed to any of his words.”
- Prov 14:22Don’t they go astray who plot evil? But love and faithfulness belong to those who plan good.
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 3:29 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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