Proverbs 26:19-28
The Message
18-19 People who shrug off deliberate deceptions,
saying, “I didn’t mean it, I was only joking,”
Are worse than careless campers
who walk away from smoldering campfires.
20 When you run out of wood, the fire goes out;
when the gossip ends, the quarrel dies down.
21 A quarrelsome person in a dispute
is like kerosene thrown on a fire.
22 Listening to gossip is like eating cheap candy;
do you want junk like that in your belly?
23 Smooth talk from an evil heart
is like glaze on cracked pottery.
24-26 Your enemy shakes hands and greets you like an old friend,
all the while plotting against you.
When he speaks warmly to you, don’t believe him for a minute;
he’s just waiting for the chance to rip you off.
No matter how shrewdly he conceals his malice,
eventually his evil will be exposed in public.
27 Malice backfires;
spite boomerangs.
28 Liars hate their victims;
flatterers sabotage trust.
Proverbs 26:19-28
New International Version
19 is one who deceives their neighbor
and says, “I was only joking!”
20 Without wood a fire goes out;
without a gossip a quarrel dies down.(A)
21 As charcoal to embers and as wood to fire,
so is a quarrelsome person for kindling strife.(B)
22 The words of a gossip are like choice morsels;
they go down to the inmost parts.(C)
23 Like a coating of silver dross on earthenware
are fervent[a] lips with an evil heart.
24 Enemies disguise themselves with their lips,(D)
but in their hearts they harbor deceit.(E)
25 Though their speech is charming,(F) do not believe them,
for seven abominations fill their hearts.(G)
26 Their malice may be concealed by deception,
but their wickedness will be exposed in the assembly.
27 Whoever digs a pit(H) will fall into it;(I)
if someone rolls a stone, it will roll back on them.(J)
28 A lying tongue hates those it hurts,
and a flattering mouth(K) works ruin.
Footnotes
- Proverbs 26:23 Hebrew; Septuagint smooth
Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.