They visit me as if they were my friends, but all the while they gather gossip, and when they leave, they spread it everywhere.
Parallel translations
- WEB If he comes to see me, he speaks falsehood. His heart gathers iniquity to itself. When he goes abroad, he tells it.
- KJV And if he come to see me, he speaketh vanity: his heart gathereth iniquity to itself; when he goeth abroad, he telleth it.
- BSB My visitor speaks falsehood; he gathers slander in his heart; he goes out and spreads it abroad.
- NKJV And if he comes to see me, he speaks lies; His heart gathers iniquity to itself; When he goes out, he tells it.
- NASB And when he comes to see me, he speaks empty words; His heart gathers wickedness to itself; When he goes outside, he tells it.
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
A visitor speaks empty words while inwardly gathering malice, then spreads slander abroad. Feigned friendship masks treachery.
Overview
The hypocrite comes with false sympathy but hoards evil thoughts to broadcast later. Such two-faced cruelty deepens the sufferer's pain. It exposes the deceit of the human heart that the gospel alone can renew.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Ps 12:2Everyone lies to his neighbor. They speak with flattering lips, and with a double heart.
- Luke 11:53–54As he said these things to them, the scribes and the Pharisees began to be terribly angry, and to draw many things out of him;
- Prov 26:24–26A malicious man disguises himself with his lips, but he harbors evil in his heart.
- Luke 20:20–23They 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.
- Jer 20:10For I have heard the defaming of many, “Terror on every side! Denounce, and we will denounce him!” say all my familiar friends, those who watch for my fall. “Perhaps he will be persuaded, and we shall prevail against him, and we shall take our revenge on him.”
- Neh 6:1–14Now when it was reported to Sanballat, Tobiah, and to Geshem the Arabian, and to the rest of our enemies, that I had built the wall, and that there was no breach left in it (though even to that time I had not set up the doors in the gates)
- 2 Cor 11:26I have been in travels often, perils of rivers, perils of robbers, perils from my countrymen, perils from the Gentiles, perils in the city, perils in the wilderness, perils in the sea, perils among false brothers;
- Mic 7:5–7Don’t trust in a neighbor. Don’t put confidence in a friend. With the woman lying in your embrace, be careful of the words of your mouth!
- Dan 11:27As for both these kings, their hearts shall be to do mischief, and they shall speak lies at one table: but it shall not prosper; for yet the end shall be at the time appointed.
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
The Psalms are Christ's own prayer book and a gallery of his portraits — the suffering one of Psalm 22, the risen Lord of Psalm 16, the priest-king of Psalm 110, the Son to whom the nations are given.
How Psalms 41:6 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.