For the froward is abomination to the LORD: but his secret is with the righteous.
Parallel translations
- WEB For the perverse is an abomination to Yahweh, but his friendship is with the upright.
- BSB for the LORD detests the perverse, but He is a friend to the upright.
- NKJV For the perverse person is an abomination to the Lord, But His secret counsel is with the upright.
- NASB For the devious are an abomination to the Lord; But He is intimate with the upright.
- NLT Such wicked people are detestable to the Lord, but he offers his friendship to the godly.
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 crooked person is detestable to the LORD, but he takes the upright into his confidence. God's intimate friendship belongs to the righteous.
Overview
This verse gives the reason not to envy the violent: their crooked ways are an abomination to God, while the upright enjoy his friendship and counsel. The contrast is between divine rejection and divine intimacy. Such fellowship with God is the believer's privilege, opened fully through Christ, who calls his own friends (John 15:14-15).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Ps 25:14The secret of the LORD is with them that fear him; and he will shew them his covenant.
- Prov 11:20They that are of a froward heart are abomination to the LORD: but such as are upright in their way are his delight.
- John 15:15Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.
- Prov 17:15He that justifieth the wicked, and he that condemneth the just, even they both are abomination to the LORD.
- Prov 8:13The fear of the LORD is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate.
- Matt 13:11He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.
- John 14:21–24He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.
- Ps 18:26With the pure thou wilt shew thyself pure; and with the froward thou wilt shew thyself froward.
- Matt 11:25At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.
- Job 29:4As I was in the days of my youth, when the secret of God was upon my tabernacle;
- Luke 16:15And he said unto them, Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God.
- Rev 2:17He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.
- Prov 6:6–19Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise:
- Prov 14:10The heart knoweth his own bitterness; and a stranger doth not intermeddle with his joy.
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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 3:32 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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