Limitless Word
Never slander a worker to the employer, or the person will curse you, and you will pay for it.
Proverbs 30:10 · New Living Translation
Parallel translations
  • WEB “Don’t slander a servant to his master, lest he curse you, and you be held guilty.
  • KJV Accuse not a servant unto his master, lest he curse thee, and thou be found guilty.
  • BSB Do not slander a servant to his master, or he will curse you, and you will bear the guilt.
  • NKJV Do not malign a servant to his master, Lest he curse you, and you be found guilty.
  • NASB ¶Do not slander a slave to his master, Or he will curse you and you will be found guilty.

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 slander a servant to his master, lest he curse you and you bear guilt.

Overview

This proverb warns against malicious or careless accusations that harm the vulnerable, here a servant who lacks power to defend himself. False or harmful speech recoils on the speaker, who incurs real guilt before God. It calls for truthful, protective speech toward the lowly, reflecting God's own care for the defenseless.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 17

  • Rom 14:4Who are you who judge another’s servant? To his own lord he stands or falls. Yes, he will be made to stand, for God has power to make him stand.
  • Eccl 7:21Also don’t take heed to all words that are spoken, lest you hear your servant curse you;
  • Dan 6:24The king commanded, and they brought those men who had accused Daniel, and they cast them into the den of lions, them, their children, and their wives; and the lions mauled them, and broke all their bones in pieces, before they came to the bottom of the den.
  • Prov 24:23–24These also are sayings of the wise. To show partiality in judgment is not good.
  • Dan 6:13Then answered they and said before the king, That Daniel, who is of the children of the captivity of Judah, doesn’t respect you, O king, nor the decree that you have signed, but makes his petition three times a day.
  • 2 Sam 19:26–27He answered, “My lord, O king, my servant deceived me. For your servant said, I will saddle me a donkey, that I may ride on it, and go with the king; because your servant is lame.
  • Dan 3:8–18Therefore at that time certain Chaldeans came near, and brought accusation against the Jews.
  • 2 Chr 24:22–24Thus Joash the king didn’t remember the kindness which Jehoiada his father had done to him, but killed his son. When he died, he said, “May Yahweh look at it, and repay it.”
  • 1 Sam 22:9–10Then Doeg the Edomite, who stood by the servants of Saul, answered and said, “I saw the son of Jesse coming to Nob, to Ahimelech the son of Ahitub.
  • Deut 23:15You shall not deliver to his master a servant who has escaped from his master to you.
  • 2 Sam 16:1–4When David was a little past the top, behold, Ziba the servant of Mephibosheth met him with a couple of donkeys saddled, and on them two hundred loaves of bread, and one hundred clusters of raisins, and one hundred summer fruits, and a bottle of wine.
  • Prov 11:26People curse someone who withholds grain, but blessing will be on the head of him who sells it.
  • 1 Sam 26:19Now therefore, please let my lord the king hear the words of his servant. If it is so that Yahweh has stirred you up against me, let him accept an offering. But if it is the children of men, they are cursed before Yahweh; for they have driven me out today that I shouldn’t cling to Yahweh’s inheritance, saying, ‘Go, serve other gods!’
  • 1 Sam 30:15David said to him, “Will you bring me down to this troop?” He said, “Swear to me by God that you will not kill me and not deliver me up into the hands of my master, and I will bring you down to this troop.”
  • 1 Sam 24:9David said to Saul, “Why do you listen to men’s words, saying, ‘Behold, David seeks to harm you?’
  • Deut 15:9Beware that there not be a base thought in your heart, saying, “The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand”; and your eye be evil against your poor brother, and you give him nothing; and he cry to Yahweh against you, and it be sin to you.
  • Prov 28:27One who gives to the poor has no lack; but one who closes his eyes will have many curses.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (1)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Proverbs videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Proverbs 30:10YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on ProverbsMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    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 30:10 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.