if you have trapped yourself by your agreement and are caught by what you said—
Parallel translations
- WEB You are trapped by the words of your mouth. You are ensnared with the words of your mouth.
- KJV Thou art snared with the words of thy mouth, thou art taken with the words of thy mouth.
- BSB if you have been trapped by the words of your lips, ensnared by the words of your mouth,
- NKJV You are snared by the words of your mouth; You are taken by the words of your mouth.
- NASB If you have been ensnared by the words of your mouth, Or caught by the words of your mouth,
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
If you have rashly pledged surety for another, your own words have ensnared you. Hasty promises can trap us.
Overview
Continuing the warning against co-signing for a neighbor's debt (6:1), Solomon says the foolish guarantor is caught by his own spoken commitment. The point is the danger of speaking carelessly and binding oneself unwisely. Scripture repeatedly cautions believers to weigh their words, since the tongue can entangle us in real consequences (cf. James 3).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 2
- Prov 18:7A fool’s mouth is his destruction, and his lips are a snare to his soul.
- Prov 12:13An evil man is trapped by sinfulness of lips, but the righteous shall come out of trouble.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
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 6:2 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.