Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
Has there ever been a righteous person?Job 15:14, Isaiah 64:6, and Romans 3:10 deny anyone is righteous — all our righteousness is as filthy rags, there is none righteous, no, not one.
Proverbs 14:3(v6)The fool’s talk brings a rod to his back, but the lips of the wise protect them.
Psalms 139:23(v5)Search me, God, and know my heart. Try me, and know my thoughts.
Isaiah 55:7(v5)Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts. Let him return to Yahweh, and he will have mercy on him, to our God,…
Matthew 7:24-27(v7)“Everyone therefore who hears these words of mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man, who built his house on a rock. The rain…
Proverbs 10:25(v7)When the whirlwind passes, the wicked is no more; but the righteous stand firm forever.
Show all 43 cross-references
Proverbs 11:21(v7)Most certainly, the evil man will not be unpunished, but the offspring of the righteous will be delivered.
2 Samuel 7:16(v7)Your house and your kingdom will be made sure forever before you. Your throne will be established forever.” ’ ”
2 Samuel 7:26(v7)Let your name be magnified forever, saying, ‘Yahweh of Armies is God over Israel; and the house of your servant David will be established…
Esther 9:6-10(v7)In the citadel of Susa, the Jews killed and destroyed five hundred men. They killed Parshandatha, Dalphon, Aspatha, Poratha, Adalia,…
Esther 9:14(v7)The king commanded this to be done. A decree was given out in Susa; and they hanged Haman’s ten sons.
Job 5:3-4(v7)I have seen the foolish taking root, but suddenly I cursed his habitation. His children are far from safety. They are crushed in the gate.…
Job 11:20(v7)But the eyes of the wicked will fail. They will have no way to flee. Their hope will be the giving up of the spirit.”
Job 18:15-20(v7)There will dwell in his tent that which is none of his. Sulfur will be scattered on his habitation. His roots will be dried up beneath. His…
Job 27:18-23(v7)He builds his house as the moth, as a booth which the watchman makes. He lies down rich, but he will not do so again. He opens his eyes,…
Psalms 37:10(v7)For yet a little while, and the wicked will be no more. Yes, though you look for his place, he isn’t there.
Psalms 41:6-7(v5)If he comes to see me, he speaks falsehood. His heart gathers iniquity to itself. When he goes abroad, he tells it. All who hate me whisper…
Psalms 140:1-3(v5)Deliver me, Yahweh, from the evil man. Preserve me from the violent man: those who devise mischief in their hearts. They continually gather…
Jeremiah 4:14(v5)Jerusalem, wash your heart from wickedness, that you may be saved. How long will your evil thoughts lodge within you?
Jeremiah 5:26(v6)For wicked men are found among my people. They watch, as fowlers lie in wait. They set a trap. They catch men.
Job 34:25(v7)Therefore he takes knowledge of their works. He overturns them in the night, so that they are destroyed.
Psalms 12:2-3(v5)Everyone lies to his neighbor. They speak with flattering lips, and with a double heart. May Yahweh cut off all flattering lips, and the…
Psalms 36:2-4(v5)For he flatters himself in his own eyes, too much to detect and hate his sin. The words of his mouth are iniquity and deceit. He has ceased…
Psalms 37:35-37(v7)I have seen the wicked in great power, spreading himself like a green tree in its native soil. But he passed away, and behold, he was not.…
Psalms 73:18-19(v7)Surely you set them in slippery places. You throw them down to destruction. How they are suddenly destroyed! They are completely swept away…
Psalms 119:15(v5)I will meditate on your precepts, and consider your ways.
Proverbs 1:11-19(v6)If they say, “Come with us. Let’s lay in wait for blood. Let’s lurk secretly for the innocent without cause. Let’s swallow them up alive…
Proverbs 11:23(v5)The desire of the righteous is only good. The expectation of the wicked is wrath.
Proverbs 14:1(v7)Every wise woman builds her house, but the foolish one tears it down with her own hands.
Proverbs 14:11(v7)The house of the wicked will be overthrown, but the tent of the upright will flourish.
Proverbs 15:25(v7)Yahweh will uproot the house of the proud, but he will keep the widow’s borders intact.
Proverbs 24:3-4(v7)Through wisdom a house is built; by understanding it is established; by knowledge the rooms are filled with all rare and beautiful treasure.
Proverbs 24:9(v5)The schemes of folly are sin. The mocker is detested by men.
Isaiah 59:7(v6)Their feet run to evil, and they hurry to shed innocent blood. Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity. Desolation and destruction are in…
Matthew 2:3-8(v5)When King Herod heard it, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. Gathering together all the chief priests and scribes of the people,…
Matthew 2:16(v5)Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked by the wise men, was exceedingly angry, and sent out, and killed all the male children who were…
Matthew 26:4(v5)They took counsel together that they might take Jesus by deceit, and kill him.
1 Corinthians 4:5(v5)Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and reveal the…
2 Corinthians 4:2(v5)But we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but by the…
2 Samuel 17:1-4(v6)Moreover Ahithophel said to Absalom, “Let me now choose twelve thousand men, and I will arise and pursue after David tonight. I will come…
Esther 4:7-14(v6)Mordecai told him of all that had happened to him, and the exact sum of the money that Haman had promised to pay to the king’s treasuries…
Esther 7:4-6(v6)For we are sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be slain, and to perish. But if we had been sold for male and female slaves, I would…
Acts 23:12(v6)When it was day, some of the Jews banded together, and bound themselves under a curse, saying that they would neither eat nor drink until…
Acts 23:15(v6)Now therefore, you with the council inform the commanding officer that he should bring him down to you tomorrow, as though you were going…
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (21 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
Geneva Bible translators1599 · Public DomainOn v6As their conscience is upright, so shall they be…
As their conscience is upright, so shall they be able to speak for themselves against their accusers.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp1656 · Public DomainOn vv5–7Pro 12:5 The thoughts of the righteous [are] right:…
Pro 12:5 The thoughts of the righteous [are] right: [but] the counsels of the wicked [are] deceit.
Ver. 5. The thoughts of the righteous are right.] He feeds his thoughts upon the best objects, those especially mentioned in that little Bible, Php 4:8, "Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these Things."if worse break in, as they will, he jostles them out, and rids the room of them. {See Trapp on "Pro 11:23"}
Read full note →
But the counsels of the wicked are deceit.] Not their rash thoughts only, but also their deliberate ones are how to circumvent others, or to cloak their own wickedness. "Every imagination," the whole frame, "of their thoughts is evil, only evil, and continually evil." {Gen 6:5; Gen 8:21} If good thoughts look into a wicked heart, they stay not there, as those that like not their lodging: the flashes of lightnings may be discerned into the darkest prisons. The light that shines into a holy heart is constant, like that of the sun, which keeps due times, and varies not the course for any of these sublunary occasions.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole1685 · Public DomainOn vv5–7The thoughts of the righteous are right; his constant…
The thoughts of the righteous are right; his constant purpose is to deal justly and truly with God and with men.
The counsels of the wicked are deceit; his great care and contrivance is to wrong and deceive others by fair pretences and cunning artifices.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry1710 · Public DomainOn vv5–7Note, 1. The word of God is a discerner…
Note, 1. The word of God is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart, and judges them. We mistake if we imagine that thoughts are free. No, they are under the divine cognizance, and therefore under the divine command. 2. We ought to be observers of the thoughts and intents of our own hearts, and to judge of ourselves by them; for they are the first-born of the soul, that have most of its image undisguised. Right thoughts are a righteous man's best evidences, as nothing more certainly proves a man wicked than wicked contrivances and designs. A good man may have in his mind bad suggestions, but he does not indulge them and harbour them till they are ripened into bad projects and resolutions. 3. It is a man's honour to mean honestly, and to have his thoughts right, though a word or action may be misplaced, or mistimed, or at least misinterpreted. But it is a man's shame to lie always at catch, to act with deceit, with trick and design, not only with a long reach, but with an overreach.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill1763 · Public DomainOn vv5–7The thoughts of the righteous are right,.... Or "judgment"…
The thoughts of the righteous are right,.... Or "judgment" (o). The thoughts of men's hearts are naturally evil, nor can any think a good thought of themselves; but the thoughts of the righteous are directed and influenced by the grace of God, and are formed according to that Word which is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart; their thoughts concerning God and religion, concerning Christ and his Gospel, his ways and worship, his truths and ordinances, they are judiciously framed according to the rule of God's word, the revelation he has made, and so are right; and such are their resolutions and designs to serve the Lord their God, and him only, and to cleave to him with full purpose of heart
but the counsels of the wicked are deceit; the designs, schemes, and contrivances of wicked men, are to trick, and overreach, and defraud their neighbours in civil affairs; and of false teachers, to deceive the hearts of the simple in religious ones. The coming of the man of sin was with all deceivableness; and all the gaudy show and pageantry he makes, and pretended miracles he works, are to deceive the inhabitants of the earth; and by his sorceries all nations are deceived, Th2 2:10.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley1765 · Public DomainOn vv6–7Lie in wait - Are designed to entrap others,…
Lie in wait - Are designed to entrap others, and to destroy them. Deliver them - From those that lie in wait for them.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke1810 · Public DomainOn v7Verse 7. The wicked are overthrown] Seldom does God…
Verse 7. The wicked are overthrown] Seldom does God give such a long life or numerous offspring.
But the house of the righteous shall stand.] God blesses their progeny, and their families continue long in the earth; whereas the wicked seldom have many generations in a direct line. This is God's mercy, that the entail of iniquity may be in some sort cut off, so that the same vices may not be strengthened by successive generations. For generally the bad root produces not only a bad plant, but one worse than itself.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson1811 · Public DomainOn v5Pro 12:5-7. The thoughts of the righteous are right…
Pro 12:5-7. The thoughts of the righteous are right — His constant purpose is to be upright before God, and just and true in all his dealings with men. But the counsels of the wicked are deceit — His great care and contrivance are to deceive and wrong others by fair pretence and cunning artifices. The words of the wicked are to lie in wait, &c. — Are designed and ordered to entrap or deceive others, and to destroy them; but the mouth of the upright shall deliver them — Namely, from those that lie in wait for them: either, 1st, By prayer to God for their deliverance; or, 2d, By bearing witness for them, and pleading their righteous cause, with such wisdom and arguments as cannot be gainsaid. The wicked are overthrown, and are not — They and their families shall suddenly perish; but the house — The family and posterity, of the righteous shall stand — On a firm basis, notwithstanding the attempts of their enemies to overthrow them. They shall stand when they that assaulted them are quite extinct.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes1834 · Public DomainOn v6Shall deliver them - i. e., The righteous themselves.
Shall deliver them - i. e., The righteous themselves.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Charles Bridges1846 · Public DomainOn v5The workings of good and evil are here traced…
The workings of good and evil are here traced to the fountain-head. (Gen 6:5 .) The thoughts of the righteous, "renewed in the spirit of his mind" (Eph 4:23 ), are right. (Pro 11:23 .) He learns to measure everything by the unerring rule, and to lean upon his God in the careful distrust of himself. Many indeed are his deviations. But there is an overcoming law within, that, in despite of all oppositions, fixes his thoughts, with delight on God and his law (Psa 139:17-18 . Rom 7:15-23 ), and gives to them a single bias for his service. Widely different are the thoughts of the wicked, ripening into counsels fraught with deceit. Such were the counsels of Joseph’s brethren to deceive their father; of Jeroboam, under a feigned consideration of the people; of Daniel’s enemies, under pretense of honouring the king; of Sanballat, under the guise of friendship; of Haman, under the cover of patriotism; of Herod, under the profession of worshipping the infant Savior.†1 Indeed from such "a corrupt fountain" as man’s heart, what else can be expected but "bitter waters"? (Jer 17:9 . Mat 15:19 .)
Then look at words — the natural organ of the thoughts. How murderous were the words of Ahithophel; the trap laid for our beloved Lord; the conspiracy against the great Apostle†2 — all lying in wait for blood! (Pro 29:10 . Psa 37:12, Psa 37:14 .) The fiercer ebullitions of humanity may indeed be softened down and restrained.†3 But the principles remain the same. The fiery elements only lie in slumbering cover, and often break out, wasting the very face of society. Yet even in this bursting storm the mouth of the upright preserves them. (Pro 11:9 .) The wisdom of our Divine Master was an unfailing preservative. (Mat 22:34-35, Mat 22:46 .) The same mouth was a cover to his upright disciples, with little of man’s help, and much of man’s opposition; "None could gainsay or resist." (Luk 21:14-15 . Act 4:13-14 .)
Read full note →
We cannot but wonder at the long-suffering, that suffers the wicked thus to load the earth with such a mass of guilt and misery. Yet their triumphing is but for a moment. (Job 20:5 . Psa 37:35-36 .) Look at Haman — his deceitful counsels, his bloody words. He is overthrown, and is not. (Est 7:10 .) "And shall not God avenge his own elect?" (Luk 18:7 .) Their house, feeble as it often is, and brought low (Pro 12:3 . 1Ki 15:4 ), shall stand. They shall "have a place in the Lord’s house" immovable here (Isa 56:4-5 ), and in eternity. (Rev 3:12 .) Yes — those, whose thoughts and words are upright, shall stand, when all is sinking around — "They shall be mine, saith the LORD, in that day when I shall make up my jewels." (Mal 3:17 .)
Footnotes:
†1 See Gen 37:18-20 . 1Ki 12:26-28 . Dan 6:4-7 . Neh 6:2 . Est 3:8-10 . Mat 2:7-8 .
†2 2Sa 17:1-4 ; Luk 20:19-21 . Act 23:14-15 .
†3 See Rom 3:15, as the proof of universal and total depravity, Rom 3:9-10 .
Charles Bridges, An Exposition of the Book of Proverbs (1846) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary1859 · Public DomainOn v7Turn. In a moment the wicked is not to…
Turn. In a moment the wicked is not to be found, chap. x. 25., and Psalm xxxvi. 35.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown1871 · Public DomainOn vv5–7thoughts--or, "purposes."
thoughts--or, "purposes."
are right--literally, "are judgment," that is, true decisions.
Read full note →
counsels--(Compare Pro 11:14).
deceit--contrary to truth and honesty.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon1874 · Public DomainOn vv5–75. Thoughts… righteous — Their purposes, intentions, accord with…
5. Thoughts… righteous — Their purposes, intentions, accord with justice, or a judicial decision; that is, are like unto one. They meditate, and intend nothing but what is right.
The counsels — תחבלות, tahhbuloth, (comp. Pro_1:5; Pro_11:14,) the governing principles, of the wicked are deceit. Are intended to deceive. Tahhbuloth is the same word which in Pro_1:5, is translated wise counsels. See note there.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges1878 · Public DomainOn vv6–76. to lie in wait] So R.V. marg., a…
6. to lie in wait] So R.V. marg., a lying in wait; but R.V. text, of lying in wait, comp. Pro_1:11.
them] This may mean either the righteous themselves, or those for whose blood the wicked lie in wait.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers1878 · Public DomainOn vv5–7(5) The thoughts of the righteous are right.—Or, justice.…
(5) The thoughts of the righteous are right.—Or, justice. (Comp. Mat_12:35.)
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary1880 · Public DomainOn vv5–7The thoughts of the righteous are right; literally, judgments;…
The thoughts of the righteous are right; literally, judgments; i.e. just and fair, much more then words and actions. St. Gregory ("Mor. in Job, lib. 25) takes another view, seeing in "judgments" the stings of conscience, and a rehearsal of the day of account. "The righteous," he says, "approach the secret chambers of the Judge in the recesses of their own hearts; they consider how smartly he smites at last, who long patiently bears with them. They are afraid for the sins which they remember they have committed; and they punish by their tears the faults which they know they have perpetrated. They dread the searching judgments of God, even in those sins which perchance they cannot discover in themselves. And in this secret chamber of inward judgment, constrained by the sentence of their own conduct, they chasten with penitence that which they have committed through pride" (Oxford transl.). But the counsels of the wicked which they offer to othersare deceit. The mere "thoughts" are contrasted with the mature, expressed "counsels" Septuagint, "The wicked steer (kubernwsi ) deceits." (For "counsels," see notes, Pro_1:5 and Pro_20:18)
Right (just) thoughts.
Read full note →
"The thoughts of the righteous are right," or are "just" (Revised Version). There is something more than a truism in these words. We may see first
I THE PLACE OF THOUGHT IN MAN. This is one of the greatest importance, for it is the deepest of all; it is at the very foundation.
1. Conduct rests on character. It is often said that conduct is the greater part of life; it is certainly that part which is most conspicuous, and therefore most influential. But it is superficial; it rests on character; it depends on the principles which are within the soul. It is these which determine a man"s position in the kingdom of God.
2. Character is determined by our prevalent and established feeling; by what we have learned to love, by what we have come to hate. As a man thinketh in his heart, as he feels in his soul, so is he; it is our final and fixed attachments and repulsions that decide our character.
3. Feeling springs from thought. As we think, we feel. By the thoughts admitted to our minds and entertained there are determined our loves and our hatreds. Life, therefore, is ultimately built on thought. What are we thinking? this is the vital question. Now, the thoughts of the righteous, the upright, the good, the true man, are right, or just.
II THE JUST THOUGHTS OF THE GOOD. A good man"s thoughts are such as are:
1. Just to himself. He owes it to himself to thick only those thoughts which are pure and true. If he harbours those which are impure and untrue, he is doing himself deadly injury, he is inflicting on his spirit, on himself, a fatal wound. This he has no right to do; he is bound, in justice to himself, to guard the gate of his mind against these to admit only those which are true and pure.
2. Just to his neighbours. He owes it to them to think thoughts that are honest and charitable. We wrong our brethren, in truth and fact if not in appearance, when we think of them that which is not fair toward them. Every really righteous man will therefore banish thoughts which are not thoroughly honest, and also those which are uncharitable; for to be uncharitable is to be essentially and most materially unjust.
3. Just to God. We owe to our Divine Creator and Redeemer all thoughts which are
(1) reverent, leading us to piety and devotion;
(2) grateful, leading us to thankful praise;
(3) submissive, leading us to the one decisive, all-inclusive act of self-surrender, and to daily and hourly obedience to his holy will;
(4) trustful, leading us to a calm assurance that all is well with us, and that the darkness or the twilight will pass into the perfect day. C.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator1887 · Public DomainOn v7But the house of the righteous shall stand.
Pro_12:7
But the house of the righteous shall stand.
Read full note →
Virtuous kindred
I. In the first place, the circumstance of belonging to the house of the righteous, is a great security that the early principles which so commonly decide the character of the man, have been the subjects of a judicious and anxious attention. The child of such a house cannot have been left to collect from the chance companions of after-life those important truths upon the knowledge of which so much depends.
II. It is a second advantage belonging to the house of the righteous that the companions and examples furnished by it are likely to have a powerful influence in deepening every good impression, and recommending every valuable lesson received in it.
III. It is another privilege belonging to an early education in the house of the righteous that virtue is there seen from the first in its own lovely form, and its influence felt to be full of calm and lasting enjoyment.
IV. Another of these advantages is the additional motive felt in such a connection to respectable conduct--to conduct which may recommend us to the continued regard of the numerous and friendly witnesses who, with anxious interest, are watching our progress. (J. G. Robberds.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary1892 · Public DomainOn v5Pro_12:5. Thoughts, or “purposes.” Right, “judgment,” “justice.”
CRITICAL NOTES.—
Pro_12:5. Thoughts, or “purposes.” Right, “judgment,” “justice.”
Read full note →
Pro_12:7. Wordsworth here reads, “When the wicked turn themselves,” etc., i.e., on any reverse of their fortunes, however slight, they perish.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPHS—Pro_12:5-8
THOUGHTS AND WORDS AND THEIR RESULT
I. The thoughts of the righteous or godly man are right.
1. Because he has the best material out of which to build his thoughts. The kind of building which is reared will depend mainly upon the quarry from which the stones are hewn. The man of God gets the material of his thoughts from the revealed word of God. He obeys the Divine command.—“This book of the law shall not depart out thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate thereon day and night” (Jos_1:8).
2. Because his thinking is under the rule of law. He does not allow his mind to dwell upon every suggestion that comes into it, he forbids certain things to enter there, or if they enter in an unguarded moment, he will not give them a dwelling place. He does not give unqualified assent to the boast that “thought is free.” The righteous man does not aspire to be a “free-thinker,” if he did he could not be a good thinker. He rules his thoughts accordiag to the legislation of Christ (Mat_5:28; Mat_15:18), and endeavours to bring every thought into obedience to Him (2Co_10:5).
II. The speech of the righteous. A man’s words are never worse than his thoughts. In a good man they are the outcome of his thoughts. As the child is the undeveloped man, and the seed the undeveloped tree, so thought is the seed of speech. If the child’s constitution is good and the seed is good, the man and the tree will be healthy and vigorous. If the thought is healthy and wise the speech will be so likewise, for “out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh” (Mat_12:34).
III. The thoughts of the wicked. They are such as spring spontaneously from the human heart, which is, according to the estimate of One who knows, “deceitful above all things” (Jer_17:9). In such a heart counsels or thoughts of deceit must be generated. His own life-work will be a deceit (chap. Pro_11:18), and he will deceive others. The verse evidently refers to thoughts which purpose harm to other people. When a man’s thoughts are not in subjection to the law of God, they have a tendency to go from bad to worse. The ungodly man, either directly or indirectly, injures others as well as himself.
IV. The words of the wicked. The ungodly are here represented, as in chap. Pro_11:21, as combining to injure the godly (see Homiletics on that verse). Their words are the outcome of their evil and malicious thoughts. Most ungodly men try to lessen the influence of the good by depreciating their character when they do not dare to attack their property and their lives. This lying in wait for blood may cover all schemes to bring about the downfall of the good. The two characters now stand before us. Let us look at what is in store for each. I. For the righteous.
1. Deliverance from the machinations of the wicked. This is effected by means of the godly man’s own words. He is able to refute what his enemies bring against him. This proverb cannot of course be taken to assert that the righteous are always delivered from death at the hands of their persecutors. They are delivered as Christ was delivered from the counsels of deceit, and from the bloody plans of the Scribes and Pharisees. The words here used exactly describe their character, and the deliverance of the righteous is such a deliverance as our Lord wrought for Himself by the words of truth and wisdom with which He silenced them. Take the instance of the tribute-money as recorded by Matthew (chap. Pro_22:15). “Then went the Pharisees and took counsel how they might entangle Him in His talk. And they sent out unto Him their disciples with the Herodians, saying, Master, we know that Thou art true, and teachest the way of God in truth, neither carest Thou for any man; for thou regardest not the person of men. Tell us, therefore, What thinkest Thou? Is it lawful to give tribute unto Cæsar, or not? But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, Why tempt ye me, ye hypocrites? Show me the tribute money. And they brought Him a penny. And He saith unto them, Whose is this image and superscription? They say unto Him, Cæsar’s. Then saith He unto them, Render therefore unto Cæsar the things which are Cæsar’s, and unto God the things which are God’s. When they had heard these words, they marvelled, and left him, and went their way.” Two other instances of Christ’s delivering Himself by His “mouth” are given in the same chapter. And many of His followers have in like manner defeated the plans of their enemies.
2. The establishment of his family. His thoughts and words bless his own house—they are the means of reproducing other characters whose thoughts and words are like his own. This of itself is a good reason why his house should stand. Each member of it thus becomes a centre of influence for good, and in this way the world is preserved from moral corruption and ruin. And it is a law of God’s kingdom that the godliness of the head of a family or race should bring a blessing upon his posterity. God defended the people of Jerusalem in the days of Hezekiah for “His servant David’s sake” (Isa_37:35). He blessed Isaac for “my servant Abraham’s sake” (Gen_26:24). And the same law is at work in New Testament times, “The promise is unto you and to your children” (Act_2:39).
3. General commendation. The wise and the righteous are synonymous in the book of Proverbs, the wisdom of the 8th verse is, doubtless, moral wisdom. Paul calls his Corinthian converts, whom he had begotten by his holy thoughts and wise words, his “letters of commendation” (2Co_3:1-3). Every godly man has some such commendatory epistles in the living souls whom his life and words have blessed. Men can but acknowledge that he is a blessing to his fellow-creatures while he lives, and after he has left the world he is praised by, and because of, those whom he turned to righteousness” (Dan_12:3). But for the wicked there must be—
1. Overthrow. They entered the lists against a power much stronger than their own, and must therefore come to ruin. The stubble of the field can contend for a time against the fire, but the latter grows stronger the longer it burns, and the stubble is less and less able to resist its power, until presently there is nothing left but a few ashes which are soon scattered by the winds, and the place that once knew them knows them no more, “For behold the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven, and all the proud and all that do wickedly shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of Hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch” (Mal_4:1).
4. General contempt. The wicked or “perverse of heart” will not be able to respect himself, how then can he expect others to hold him in honour? And in the day of his overthrow the contempt or indifference with which both he and his fate will be regarded will not come from those whom he has striven to injure, but from those who are like himself. Those who have already met with their overthrow will be those who will meet him with the taunt, “Art thou also become weak as we? Art thou become like unto us?” (Isa_14:10). And those whose time of judgment is yet in the future will not stoop to pity or succour him.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
Pro_12:5. That thoughts are free, is his lesson, by whom we are made slaves unto sin. For if the thoughts be corrupted, the affections will soon be polluted, and then the actions are easily perverted. If the flies of Egypt get into our eyes, the frogs of Egypt will soon get into our chambers, the chambers of our hearts, and then the caterpillars of Egypt will soon destroy our fruits, the actions of our lives. The counsels of the wicked are deceit—they deceive God of His honour, their neighbour of his right, themselves of their salvation.—Jermin.
The stress lies upon the words, “thoughts” or “purposes,” and “counsels.” Habits of good and evil reach beyond the region of outward act to that of impulse and volition.—Plumptre.
To the righteous are ascribed simple and clear thoughts, to the godless, prudently thought through schemes and measures, but on that very account not simple, because of their tendency. Delitzsch.
If good thoughts look into a wicked heart, they stay not there, as those that like not their lodging; the flashes of lightnings may be discerned into the darkest prisons. The light that shines into a holy heart is constant, like that of the sun, which keeps due times, and varies not the course for any of these sublunary occasions.—Trapp.
At the first creation man was made to excel brute beasts more by the reason and gifts of the soul than by the fashion and shape of the body, so at the second, a Christian is made to excel sinful men more by the holiness and working of the soul than by those of the body.—Dod.
The mere thoughts—the unpremeditated resolves of a righteous man—are right; the deliberate counsels, the very deliberations of the wicked, are deceit.—Burgon.
Many indeed are the deviations of the righteous. But there is an overcoming law within that, in despite of all opposition, fixes his thoughts with delight on God and His law (Psa_139:17-18; Rom_7:15; Rom_7:23), and gives to them a single bias for His service. Widely different are the thoughts of the wicked, ripening into counsels fraught with deceit. Such were those of Joseph’s brethren to deceive their father; of Jeroboam, under a feigned consideration of the people; of Daniel’s enemies, under pretence of honouring the king; of Herod, under the profession of worshipping the infant Saviour.—Bridges.
This verse has been rendered, “The policy of the just is honesty; the wisdom of the wicked is cunning.” The righteous man deals in rectitude, and from his actions you know his thoughts. It is not so with “the wicked.” He thinks one way and acts another. His words and deeds are not the fair index of his thoughts.—Wardlaw.
“The plans of the righteous are a judgment.” This word, which is very common in the Bible, means a judicial decision. The “judgment” of the wicked is a verdict of the Almighty consigning them to hell. The “judgment” of the righteous, by what Christ has wrought out, is a verdict of eternal reward.… The “plans of the righteous,” however disastrous they may seem, “are a judgment.” And, as the “judgment” of the righteous is in his favour, his plans, however bad, are shaped in him for his good. Whatsoever storms they may lead to, they are from a most prosperous verdict, and have been allowed to supervene, for his highest, and well-graduated good. Mark now the climax (as in ch. Pro_14:11). It says, the plans of the righteous, leaving us to suppose they might be very wretched. But it says “the helmsmanship (counsels, see on chap. Pro_11:14) of the wicked,” leaving us to suppose they are very shrewd. The keenest calculations of the wicked, where a cool eye is at the helm, and where instead of marrying a foolish wife (Pro_12:4), he has built grandly for the world; still, as a judgment, I mean by that, as the whole verdict in his case, his very helmsmanships are a deceit.
(1) His own wisdom cheats him in ordering his life; and
(2) God Himself, as a part of His award, takes care that he be deceived as to his total well-being.—Miller.
Pro_12:6. The law of parallelism leaves it open to us to refer the pronoun at the end of the verse to the righteous themselves, or to those, the unwary and innocent, for whom the words of the wicked lie in wait.—Plumptre.
The fiercer ebullitions of humanity may, indeed, be softened down and restrained. But the principle remains the same. The fiery elements only lie in slumbering cover, and often break out, wasting the very face of society.—Bridges.
The words. Speech is the great instrument of man. Talking is his trade. Wall Street and Lombard Street make their fortunes by the tongue. The “words of the wicked” are, therefore, their highest activities, and our proverb declares that these high acts are “a lying in wait for blood.” We would not deny that this may include the blood of others; but in the light of the last verse the grand victim is themselves (chap. Pro_1:18). Each order on change is for a man’s last discomfiture.—Miller.
Though nature hath denied man the weapons of his teeth, yet wickedness giveth to some such words as are more bloody than the teeth of the most bloody beasts. The false witness will frame his tale so cunningly as if he intended nothing but a clearing of the truth, whereas he seeketh nothing but the shedding of blood. The corrupt judge will couch his words so closely, as if he meant nothing but to have justice executed, whereas they are nothing but ambushments to surprise innocent blood. But there are words which issue from the mouth of the upright, as making a sally out of some adjoining fort, whereby the prey is rescued, the pillagers are defeated, the innocent is delivered, the upright as victorious is crowned with the diadem of his judgment as in Job it is called (ch. Pro_29:14); and which St. Gregory saith is rightly called a diadem, because by the glory of an excellent work it leadeth to the crown of a glorious reward. Now such were the words of Job’s mouth, who brake the jaws of the wicked and plucked the spoil out of his teeth, being eyes to the blind, feet to the lame, and a father to the poor.—Jermin.
The prayers of God’s people ascend up to God’s presence for His help, and those mouths prevail mightily that seek for redress of wrong at His hands. Herod thought it would be too late for all the friends which Peter had to minister help to him when he had clapped him in prison. But he remembered not how swift the godly be to prayer and how soon a prayer can come to God.—Dod.
Pro_12:7. The persons of the wicked are overthrown and are not, the house of the righteous (the very roof that sheltered him) shall stand.—Burgon.
He that is strong may be overthrown and may rise again, he that riseth not to what he was may rise in part to something, he that riseth not at all, may lie where he has fallen; but in the overthrow of the wicked all hope is gone of anything, for they themselves are nothing. They were not in goodness, they are not by their wickedness. They are not to be recovered from their overthrow, because they are not changed to repentance by their overthrow. On the other side, not only the righteous shall stand, their family, their posterity shall stand, for God shall stand by them, and then no fear of falling can be unto them.—Jermin.
When a change of the estate of the ungodly is made from prosperity unto adversity, their utter destruction is commonly wrought, for their house being built upon the sand, the tempests and the winds arise and quite overthrow it. The whole manner of the overthrow is described in Job_18:15.—Muffet.
The righteous shall “have a place in the Lord’s house,” immovable here (Isa_56:4-5), and in eternity (Rev_3:12).—Bridges.
Solomon had a signal exemplification of this in the case of Saul and his father David. Possibly this instance might be in his eye at the time.—Wardlaw.
Eventually there must be overthrow, even if it be no overthrow but death. When the wicked do fall, there is positively nothing of them left. While in the deepest disasters of the righteous, nothing is not left. “His house,” and by that is meant every possible real interest (1Sa_2:35) shall stand for ever.—Miller.
Pro_12:8. Sometimes, and very often, the wicked shall commend him, commonly the righteous, and always the Lord Himself, but most of all at the last day, before all men and angels. They that are not void of uprightness shall not be destitute of praise and honour. Though some be blind that they cannot discern their understanding and graces, yet others have their eyesight and behold them. Though some be dumb and will not speak of their virtues, yet others have their lips open to commend them.—Dod.
And all wisdom consists in this, that a man rightly know and worship God. Apollonius, Archimedes, and Aristotle were wise in their generations, and so accounted, but by whom? Not by St. Paul, he hath another opinion of them (Rom_1:22). Not by our Saviour (Mat_11:25).—Trapp.
According—“in exact proportion;” such is the meaning of the Hebrew. A man is more applauded for good sense than perhaps anything else. Wisdom—“shrewdness;” that attribute that leads to success. Therefore it sometimes means success (2Ki_18:7). Successful shrewdness is a very positive sort. Such is the shrewdness of the righteous man (Pro_12:7). Perverse heart—“crooked sense,” literally heart; though heart contains more of sense (νους) than we ascribe to it. If a man whose mind works crookedly every time becomes an object of contempt, why ought not the wicked to become so, whose very helmsmanships are a deceit? (Pro_12:5).—Miller.
How thrilling will be the commendation of wisdom before the assembled universe! (Luk_12:42-44). Who will not then acknowledge the wise choice of an earthly cross with a heavenly crown?—Bridges.
This is capable of two interpretations. It may refer to commendation by men, or to commendation by God. In the one case it may mean mere secular discretions, in the other it must mean religious principle, according to the invariable testimony that “the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom.” This is not the wisdom that secures the eulogy of men; but it will ever secure that of the Infinitely Wise, the Infinitely Good. And, indeed, the two things may be united. A man who fears God will always be a faithful counsellor, and if at the same time he have sound discretion in regard to the affairs of life, this will form the perfection of character, and there will be commendation both from men and God.… In the pride of your hearts, you may affect to hold very cheap the contempt of men; though even that is often more pretension than reality, disappointment rankling at the heart, while scorn is curling the lip. But what must it be to be “lightly esteemed” at last, to be “despised” by that God who has in his hands the destinies of the universe!—Wardlaw.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann1924 · Public DomainOn vv5–7v. 5. The thoughts of the righteous are right,…
v. 5. The thoughts of the righteous are right, just and pious, leading to words and deeds which are also righteous; but the counsels of the wicked are deceit, the manner in which they influence and direct others is deceitful and is bound to work harm.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0On vv5, 7The words of wicked people are an ambush waiting…
The words of wicked people are an ambush waiting for a chance to kill
The deceitful things that wicked people say in order to harm other people are spoken of as if their words are waiting to kill someone by surprise. AT: "The deceitful things wicked people say are like a person who waits to kill someone by surprise" (See: Metaphor)
Read full note →
the words of the upright keep them safe
"the advice from an upright person keeps people safe"
the upright
"the righteous person" or "the honest person" or "the just person"
GEBible — Godless Engineer's Bible App
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On v6 As their conscience is upright, so shall they be…
As their conscience is upright, so shall they be able to speak for themselves against their accusers.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv5–7 Pro 12:5 The thoughts of the righteous [are] right:…
Pro 12:5 The thoughts of the righteous [are] right: [but] the counsels of the wicked [are] deceit.
Ver. 5. The thoughts of the righteous are right.] He feeds his thoughts upon the best objects, those especially mentioned in that little Bible, Php 4:8, "Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these Things."if worse break in, as they will, he jostles them out, and rids the room of them. {See Trapp on "Pro 11:23"}
Read full note →
But the counsels of the wicked are deceit.] Not their rash thoughts only, but also their deliberate ones are how to circumvent others, or to cloak their own wickedness. "Every imagination," the whole frame, "of their thoughts is evil, only evil, and continually evil." {Gen 6:5; Gen 8:21} If good thoughts look into a wicked heart, they stay not there, as those that like not their lodging: the flashes of lightnings may be discerned into the darkest prisons. The light that shines into a holy heart is constant, like that of the sun, which keeps due times, and varies not the course for any of these sublunary occasions.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv5–7 The thoughts of the righteous are right; his constant…
The thoughts of the righteous are right; his constant purpose is to deal justly and truly with God and with men.
The counsels of the wicked are deceit; his great care and contrivance is to wrong and deceive others by fair pretences and cunning artifices.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On vv5–7 Note, 1. The word of God is a discerner…
Note, 1. The word of God is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart, and judges them. We mistake if we imagine that thoughts are free. No, they are under the divine cognizance, and therefore under the divine command. 2. We ought to be observers of the thoughts and intents of our own hearts, and to judge of ourselves by them; for they are the first-born of the soul, that have most of its image undisguised. Right thoughts are a righteous man's best evidences, as nothing more certainly proves a man wicked than wicked contrivances and designs. A good man may have in his mind bad suggestions, but he does not indulge them and harbour them till they are ripened into bad projects and resolutions. 3. It is a man's honour to mean honestly, and to have his thoughts right, though a word or action may be misplaced, or mistimed, or at least misinterpreted. But it is a man's shame to lie always at catch, to act with deceit, with trick and design, not only with a long reach, but with an overreach.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv5–7 The thoughts of the righteous are right,.... Or "judgment"…
The thoughts of the righteous are right,.... Or "judgment" (o). The thoughts of men's hearts are naturally evil, nor can any think a good thought of themselves; but the thoughts of the righteous are directed and influenced by the grace of God, and are formed according to that Word which is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart; their thoughts concerning God and religion, concerning Christ and his Gospel, his ways and worship, his truths and ordinances, they are judiciously framed according to the rule of God's word, the revelation he has made, and so are right; and such are their resolutions and designs to serve the Lord their God, and him only, and to cleave to him with full purpose of heart
but the counsels of the wicked are deceit; the designs, schemes, and contrivances of wicked men, are to trick, and overreach, and defraud their neighbours in civil affairs; and of false teachers, to deceive the hearts of the simple in religious ones. The coming of the man of sin was with all deceivableness; and all the gaudy show and pageantry he makes, and pretended miracles he works, are to deceive the inhabitants of the earth; and by his sorceries all nations are deceived, Th2 2:10.
Read full note →
(o) "judicium", Pagninns, Montanus, Mercerus, Cocceius, Gejerus.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv6–7 Lie in wait - Are designed to entrap others,…
Lie in wait - Are designed to entrap others, and to destroy them. Deliver them - From those that lie in wait for them.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On v7 Verse 7. The wicked are overthrown] Seldom does God…
Verse 7. The wicked are overthrown] Seldom does God give such a long life or numerous offspring.
But the house of the righteous shall stand.] God blesses their progeny, and their families continue long in the earth; whereas the wicked seldom have many generations in a direct line. This is God's mercy, that the entail of iniquity may be in some sort cut off, so that the same vices may not be strengthened by successive generations. For generally the bad root produces not only a bad plant, but one worse than itself.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On v5 Pro 12:5-7. The thoughts of the righteous are right…
Pro 12:5-7. The thoughts of the righteous are right — His constant purpose is to be upright before God, and just and true in all his dealings with men. But the counsels of the wicked are deceit — His great care and contrivance are to deceive and wrong others by fair pretence and cunning artifices. The words of the wicked are to lie in wait, &c. — Are designed and ordered to entrap or deceive others, and to destroy them; but the mouth of the upright shall deliver them — Namely, from those that lie in wait for them: either, 1st, By prayer to God for their deliverance; or, 2d, By bearing witness for them, and pleading their righteous cause, with such wisdom and arguments as cannot be gainsaid. The wicked are overthrown, and are not — They and their families shall suddenly perish; but the house — The family and posterity, of the righteous shall stand — On a firm basis, notwithstanding the attempts of their enemies to overthrow them. They shall stand when they that assaulted them are quite extinct.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On v6 Shall deliver them - i. e., The righteous themselves.
Shall deliver them - i. e., The righteous themselves.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Charles Bridges 1846 · Public Domain On v5 The workings of good and evil are here traced…
The workings of good and evil are here traced to the fountain-head. (Gen 6:5 .) The thoughts of the righteous, "renewed in the spirit of his mind" (Eph 4:23 ), are right. (Pro 11:23 .) He learns to measure everything by the unerring rule, and to lean upon his God in the careful distrust of himself. Many indeed are his deviations. But there is an overcoming law within, that, in despite of all oppositions, fixes his thoughts, with delight on God and his law (Psa 139:17-18 . Rom 7:15-23 ), and gives to them a single bias for his service. Widely different are the thoughts of the wicked, ripening into counsels fraught with deceit. Such were the counsels of Joseph’s brethren to deceive their father; of Jeroboam, under a feigned consideration of the people; of Daniel’s enemies, under pretense of honouring the king; of Sanballat, under the guise of friendship; of Haman, under the cover of patriotism; of Herod, under the profession of worshipping the infant Savior.†1 Indeed from such "a corrupt fountain" as man’s heart, what else can be expected but "bitter waters"? (Jer 17:9 . Mat 15:19 .)
Then look at words — the natural organ of the thoughts. How murderous were the words of Ahithophel; the trap laid for our beloved Lord; the conspiracy against the great Apostle†2 — all lying in wait for blood! (Pro 29:10 . Psa 37:12, Psa 37:14 .) The fiercer ebullitions of humanity may indeed be softened down and restrained.†3 But the principles remain the same. The fiery elements only lie in slumbering cover, and often break out, wasting the very face of society. Yet even in this bursting storm the mouth of the upright preserves them. (Pro 11:9 .) The wisdom of our Divine Master was an unfailing preservative. (Mat 22:34-35, Mat 22:46 .) The same mouth was a cover to his upright disciples, with little of man’s help, and much of man’s opposition; "None could gainsay or resist." (Luk 21:14-15 . Act 4:13-14 .)
Read full note →
We cannot but wonder at the long-suffering, that suffers the wicked thus to load the earth with such a mass of guilt and misery. Yet their triumphing is but for a moment. (Job 20:5 . Psa 37:35-36 .) Look at Haman — his deceitful counsels, his bloody words. He is overthrown, and is not. (Est 7:10 .) "And shall not God avenge his own elect?" (Luk 18:7 .) Their house, feeble as it often is, and brought low (Pro 12:3 . 1Ki 15:4 ), shall stand. They shall "have a place in the Lord’s house" immovable here (Isa 56:4-5 ), and in eternity. (Rev 3:12 .) Yes — those, whose thoughts and words are upright, shall stand, when all is sinking around — "They shall be mine, saith the LORD, in that day when I shall make up my jewels." (Mal 3:17 .)
Footnotes:
†1 See Gen 37:18-20 . 1Ki 12:26-28 . Dan 6:4-7 . Neh 6:2 . Est 3:8-10 . Mat 2:7-8 .
†2 2Sa 17:1-4 ; Luk 20:19-21 . Act 23:14-15 .
†3 See Rom 3:15, as the proof of universal and total depravity, Rom 3:9-10 .
Charles Bridges, An Exposition of the Book of Proverbs (1846) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On v7 Turn. In a moment the wicked is not to…
Turn. In a moment the wicked is not to be found, chap. x. 25., and Psalm xxxvi. 35.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv5–7 thoughts--or, "purposes."
thoughts--or, "purposes."
are right--literally, "are judgment," that is, true decisions.
Read full note →
counsels--(Compare Pro 11:14).
deceit--contrary to truth and honesty.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv5–7 5. Thoughts… righteous — Their purposes, intentions, accord with…
5. Thoughts… righteous — Their purposes, intentions, accord with justice, or a judicial decision; that is, are like unto one. They meditate, and intend nothing but what is right.
The counsels — תחבלות, tahhbuloth, (comp. Pro_1:5; Pro_11:14,) the governing principles, of the wicked are deceit. Are intended to deceive. Tahhbuloth is the same word which in Pro_1:5, is translated wise counsels. See note there.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv6–7 6. to lie in wait] So R.V. marg., a…
6. to lie in wait] So R.V. marg., a lying in wait; but R.V. text, of lying in wait, comp. Pro_1:11.
them] This may mean either the righteous themselves, or those for whose blood the wicked lie in wait.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv5–7 (5) The thoughts of the righteous are right.—Or, justice.…
(5) The thoughts of the righteous are right.—Or, justice. (Comp. Mat_12:35.)
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv5–7 The thoughts of the righteous are right; literally, judgments;…
The thoughts of the righteous are right; literally, judgments; i.e. just and fair, much more then words and actions. St. Gregory ("Mor. in Job, lib. 25) takes another view, seeing in "judgments" the stings of conscience, and a rehearsal of the day of account. "The righteous," he says, "approach the secret chambers of the Judge in the recesses of their own hearts; they consider how smartly he smites at last, who long patiently bears with them. They are afraid for the sins which they remember they have committed; and they punish by their tears the faults which they know they have perpetrated. They dread the searching judgments of God, even in those sins which perchance they cannot discover in themselves. And in this secret chamber of inward judgment, constrained by the sentence of their own conduct, they chasten with penitence that which they have committed through pride" (Oxford transl.). But the counsels of the wicked which they offer to othersare deceit. The mere "thoughts" are contrasted with the mature, expressed "counsels" Septuagint, "The wicked steer (kubernwsi ) deceits." (For "counsels," see notes, Pro_1:5 and Pro_20:18)
Right (just) thoughts.
Read full note →
"The thoughts of the righteous are right," or are "just" (Revised Version). There is something more than a truism in these words. We may see first
I THE PLACE OF THOUGHT IN MAN. This is one of the greatest importance, for it is the deepest of all; it is at the very foundation.
1. Conduct rests on character. It is often said that conduct is the greater part of life; it is certainly that part which is most conspicuous, and therefore most influential. But it is superficial; it rests on character; it depends on the principles which are within the soul. It is these which determine a man"s position in the kingdom of God.
2. Character is determined by our prevalent and established feeling; by what we have learned to love, by what we have come to hate. As a man thinketh in his heart, as he feels in his soul, so is he; it is our final and fixed attachments and repulsions that decide our character.
3. Feeling springs from thought. As we think, we feel. By the thoughts admitted to our minds and entertained there are determined our loves and our hatreds. Life, therefore, is ultimately built on thought. What are we thinking? this is the vital question. Now, the thoughts of the righteous, the upright, the good, the true man, are right, or just.
II THE JUST THOUGHTS OF THE GOOD. A good man"s thoughts are such as are:
1. Just to himself. He owes it to himself to thick only those thoughts which are pure and true. If he harbours those which are impure and untrue, he is doing himself deadly injury, he is inflicting on his spirit, on himself, a fatal wound. This he has no right to do; he is bound, in justice to himself, to guard the gate of his mind against these to admit only those which are true and pure.
2. Just to his neighbours. He owes it to them to think thoughts that are honest and charitable. We wrong our brethren, in truth and fact if not in appearance, when we think of them that which is not fair toward them. Every really righteous man will therefore banish thoughts which are not thoroughly honest, and also those which are uncharitable; for to be uncharitable is to be essentially and most materially unjust.
3. Just to God. We owe to our Divine Creator and Redeemer all thoughts which are
(1) reverent, leading us to piety and devotion;
(2) grateful, leading us to thankful praise;
(3) submissive, leading us to the one decisive, all-inclusive act of self-surrender, and to daily and hourly obedience to his holy will;
(4) trustful, leading us to a calm assurance that all is well with us, and that the darkness or the twilight will pass into the perfect day. C.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On v7 But the house of the righteous shall stand.
Pro_12:7
But the house of the righteous shall stand.
Read full note →
Virtuous kindred
I. In the first place, the circumstance of belonging to the house of the righteous, is a great security that the early principles which so commonly decide the character of the man, have been the subjects of a judicious and anxious attention. The child of such a house cannot have been left to collect from the chance companions of after-life those important truths upon the knowledge of which so much depends.
II. It is a second advantage belonging to the house of the righteous that the companions and examples furnished by it are likely to have a powerful influence in deepening every good impression, and recommending every valuable lesson received in it.
III. It is another privilege belonging to an early education in the house of the righteous that virtue is there seen from the first in its own lovely form, and its influence felt to be full of calm and lasting enjoyment.
IV. Another of these advantages is the additional motive felt in such a connection to respectable conduct--to conduct which may recommend us to the continued regard of the numerous and friendly witnesses who, with anxious interest, are watching our progress. (J. G. Robberds.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v5 Pro_12:5. Thoughts, or “purposes.” Right, “judgment,” “justice.”
CRITICAL NOTES.—
Pro_12:5. Thoughts, or “purposes.” Right, “judgment,” “justice.”
Read full note →
Pro_12:7. Wordsworth here reads, “When the wicked turn themselves,” etc., i.e., on any reverse of their fortunes, however slight, they perish.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPHS—Pro_12:5-8
THOUGHTS AND WORDS AND THEIR RESULT
I. The thoughts of the righteous or godly man are right.
1. Because he has the best material out of which to build his thoughts. The kind of building which is reared will depend mainly upon the quarry from which the stones are hewn. The man of God gets the material of his thoughts from the revealed word of God. He obeys the Divine command.—“This book of the law shall not depart out thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate thereon day and night” (Jos_1:8).
2. Because his thinking is under the rule of law. He does not allow his mind to dwell upon every suggestion that comes into it, he forbids certain things to enter there, or if they enter in an unguarded moment, he will not give them a dwelling place. He does not give unqualified assent to the boast that “thought is free.” The righteous man does not aspire to be a “free-thinker,” if he did he could not be a good thinker. He rules his thoughts accordiag to the legislation of Christ (Mat_5:28; Mat_15:18), and endeavours to bring every thought into obedience to Him (2Co_10:5).
II. The speech of the righteous. A man’s words are never worse than his thoughts. In a good man they are the outcome of his thoughts. As the child is the undeveloped man, and the seed the undeveloped tree, so thought is the seed of speech. If the child’s constitution is good and the seed is good, the man and the tree will be healthy and vigorous. If the thought is healthy and wise the speech will be so likewise, for “out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh” (Mat_12:34).
III. The thoughts of the wicked. They are such as spring spontaneously from the human heart, which is, according to the estimate of One who knows, “deceitful above all things” (Jer_17:9). In such a heart counsels or thoughts of deceit must be generated. His own life-work will be a deceit (chap. Pro_11:18), and he will deceive others. The verse evidently refers to thoughts which purpose harm to other people. When a man’s thoughts are not in subjection to the law of God, they have a tendency to go from bad to worse. The ungodly man, either directly or indirectly, injures others as well as himself.
IV. The words of the wicked. The ungodly are here represented, as in chap. Pro_11:21, as combining to injure the godly (see Homiletics on that verse). Their words are the outcome of their evil and malicious thoughts. Most ungodly men try to lessen the influence of the good by depreciating their character when they do not dare to attack their property and their lives. This lying in wait for blood may cover all schemes to bring about the downfall of the good. The two characters now stand before us. Let us look at what is in store for each. I. For the righteous.
1. Deliverance from the machinations of the wicked. This is effected by means of the godly man’s own words. He is able to refute what his enemies bring against him. This proverb cannot of course be taken to assert that the righteous are always delivered from death at the hands of their persecutors. They are delivered as Christ was delivered from the counsels of deceit, and from the bloody plans of the Scribes and Pharisees. The words here used exactly describe their character, and the deliverance of the righteous is such a deliverance as our Lord wrought for Himself by the words of truth and wisdom with which He silenced them. Take the instance of the tribute-money as recorded by Matthew (chap. Pro_22:15). “Then went the Pharisees and took counsel how they might entangle Him in His talk. And they sent out unto Him their disciples with the Herodians, saying, Master, we know that Thou art true, and teachest the way of God in truth, neither carest Thou for any man; for thou regardest not the person of men. Tell us, therefore, What thinkest Thou? Is it lawful to give tribute unto Cæsar, or not? But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, Why tempt ye me, ye hypocrites? Show me the tribute money. And they brought Him a penny. And He saith unto them, Whose is this image and superscription? They say unto Him, Cæsar’s. Then saith He unto them, Render therefore unto Cæsar the things which are Cæsar’s, and unto God the things which are God’s. When they had heard these words, they marvelled, and left him, and went their way.” Two other instances of Christ’s delivering Himself by His “mouth” are given in the same chapter. And many of His followers have in like manner defeated the plans of their enemies.
2. The establishment of his family. His thoughts and words bless his own house—they are the means of reproducing other characters whose thoughts and words are like his own. This of itself is a good reason why his house should stand. Each member of it thus becomes a centre of influence for good, and in this way the world is preserved from moral corruption and ruin. And it is a law of God’s kingdom that the godliness of the head of a family or race should bring a blessing upon his posterity. God defended the people of Jerusalem in the days of Hezekiah for “His servant David’s sake” (Isa_37:35). He blessed Isaac for “my servant Abraham’s sake” (Gen_26:24). And the same law is at work in New Testament times, “The promise is unto you and to your children” (Act_2:39).
3. General commendation. The wise and the righteous are synonymous in the book of Proverbs, the wisdom of the 8th verse is, doubtless, moral wisdom. Paul calls his Corinthian converts, whom he had begotten by his holy thoughts and wise words, his “letters of commendation” (2Co_3:1-3). Every godly man has some such commendatory epistles in the living souls whom his life and words have blessed. Men can but acknowledge that he is a blessing to his fellow-creatures while he lives, and after he has left the world he is praised by, and because of, those whom he turned to righteousness” (Dan_12:3). But for the wicked there must be—
1. Overthrow. They entered the lists against a power much stronger than their own, and must therefore come to ruin. The stubble of the field can contend for a time against the fire, but the latter grows stronger the longer it burns, and the stubble is less and less able to resist its power, until presently there is nothing left but a few ashes which are soon scattered by the winds, and the place that once knew them knows them no more, “For behold the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven, and all the proud and all that do wickedly shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of Hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch” (Mal_4:1).
4. General contempt. The wicked or “perverse of heart” will not be able to respect himself, how then can he expect others to hold him in honour? And in the day of his overthrow the contempt or indifference with which both he and his fate will be regarded will not come from those whom he has striven to injure, but from those who are like himself. Those who have already met with their overthrow will be those who will meet him with the taunt, “Art thou also become weak as we? Art thou become like unto us?” (Isa_14:10). And those whose time of judgment is yet in the future will not stoop to pity or succour him.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
Pro_12:5. That thoughts are free, is his lesson, by whom we are made slaves unto sin. For if the thoughts be corrupted, the affections will soon be polluted, and then the actions are easily perverted. If the flies of Egypt get into our eyes, the frogs of Egypt will soon get into our chambers, the chambers of our hearts, and then the caterpillars of Egypt will soon destroy our fruits, the actions of our lives. The counsels of the wicked are deceit—they deceive God of His honour, their neighbour of his right, themselves of their salvation.—Jermin.
The stress lies upon the words, “thoughts” or “purposes,” and “counsels.” Habits of good and evil reach beyond the region of outward act to that of impulse and volition.—Plumptre.
To the righteous are ascribed simple and clear thoughts, to the godless, prudently thought through schemes and measures, but on that very account not simple, because of their tendency. Delitzsch.
If good thoughts look into a wicked heart, they stay not there, as those that like not their lodging; the flashes of lightnings may be discerned into the darkest prisons. The light that shines into a holy heart is constant, like that of the sun, which keeps due times, and varies not the course for any of these sublunary occasions.—Trapp.
At the first creation man was made to excel brute beasts more by the reason and gifts of the soul than by the fashion and shape of the body, so at the second, a Christian is made to excel sinful men more by the holiness and working of the soul than by those of the body.—Dod.
The mere thoughts—the unpremeditated resolves of a righteous man—are right; the deliberate counsels, the very deliberations of the wicked, are deceit.—Burgon.
Many indeed are the deviations of the righteous. But there is an overcoming law within that, in despite of all opposition, fixes his thoughts with delight on God and His law (Psa_139:17-18; Rom_7:15; Rom_7:23), and gives to them a single bias for His service. Widely different are the thoughts of the wicked, ripening into counsels fraught with deceit. Such were those of Joseph’s brethren to deceive their father; of Jeroboam, under a feigned consideration of the people; of Daniel’s enemies, under pretence of honouring the king; of Herod, under the profession of worshipping the infant Saviour.—Bridges.
This verse has been rendered, “The policy of the just is honesty; the wisdom of the wicked is cunning.” The righteous man deals in rectitude, and from his actions you know his thoughts. It is not so with “the wicked.” He thinks one way and acts another. His words and deeds are not the fair index of his thoughts.—Wardlaw.
“The plans of the righteous are a judgment.” This word, which is very common in the Bible, means a judicial decision. The “judgment” of the wicked is a verdict of the Almighty consigning them to hell. The “judgment” of the righteous, by what Christ has wrought out, is a verdict of eternal reward.… The “plans of the righteous,” however disastrous they may seem, “are a judgment.” And, as the “judgment” of the righteous is in his favour, his plans, however bad, are shaped in him for his good. Whatsoever storms they may lead to, they are from a most prosperous verdict, and have been allowed to supervene, for his highest, and well-graduated good. Mark now the climax (as in ch. Pro_14:11). It says, the plans of the righteous, leaving us to suppose they might be very wretched. But it says “the helmsmanship (counsels, see on chap. Pro_11:14) of the wicked,” leaving us to suppose they are very shrewd. The keenest calculations of the wicked, where a cool eye is at the helm, and where instead of marrying a foolish wife (Pro_12:4), he has built grandly for the world; still, as a judgment, I mean by that, as the whole verdict in his case, his very helmsmanships are a deceit.
(1) His own wisdom cheats him in ordering his life; and
(2) God Himself, as a part of His award, takes care that he be deceived as to his total well-being.—Miller.
Pro_12:6. The law of parallelism leaves it open to us to refer the pronoun at the end of the verse to the righteous themselves, or to those, the unwary and innocent, for whom the words of the wicked lie in wait.—Plumptre.
The fiercer ebullitions of humanity may, indeed, be softened down and restrained. But the principle remains the same. The fiery elements only lie in slumbering cover, and often break out, wasting the very face of society.—Bridges.
The words. Speech is the great instrument of man. Talking is his trade. Wall Street and Lombard Street make their fortunes by the tongue. The “words of the wicked” are, therefore, their highest activities, and our proverb declares that these high acts are “a lying in wait for blood.” We would not deny that this may include the blood of others; but in the light of the last verse the grand victim is themselves (chap. Pro_1:18). Each order on change is for a man’s last discomfiture.—Miller.
Though nature hath denied man the weapons of his teeth, yet wickedness giveth to some such words as are more bloody than the teeth of the most bloody beasts. The false witness will frame his tale so cunningly as if he intended nothing but a clearing of the truth, whereas he seeketh nothing but the shedding of blood. The corrupt judge will couch his words so closely, as if he meant nothing but to have justice executed, whereas they are nothing but ambushments to surprise innocent blood. But there are words which issue from the mouth of the upright, as making a sally out of some adjoining fort, whereby the prey is rescued, the pillagers are defeated, the innocent is delivered, the upright as victorious is crowned with the diadem of his judgment as in Job it is called (ch. Pro_29:14); and which St. Gregory saith is rightly called a diadem, because by the glory of an excellent work it leadeth to the crown of a glorious reward. Now such were the words of Job’s mouth, who brake the jaws of the wicked and plucked the spoil out of his teeth, being eyes to the blind, feet to the lame, and a father to the poor.—Jermin.
The prayers of God’s people ascend up to God’s presence for His help, and those mouths prevail mightily that seek for redress of wrong at His hands. Herod thought it would be too late for all the friends which Peter had to minister help to him when he had clapped him in prison. But he remembered not how swift the godly be to prayer and how soon a prayer can come to God.—Dod.
Pro_12:7. The persons of the wicked are overthrown and are not, the house of the righteous (the very roof that sheltered him) shall stand.—Burgon.
He that is strong may be overthrown and may rise again, he that riseth not to what he was may rise in part to something, he that riseth not at all, may lie where he has fallen; but in the overthrow of the wicked all hope is gone of anything, for they themselves are nothing. They were not in goodness, they are not by their wickedness. They are not to be recovered from their overthrow, because they are not changed to repentance by their overthrow. On the other side, not only the righteous shall stand, their family, their posterity shall stand, for God shall stand by them, and then no fear of falling can be unto them.—Jermin.
When a change of the estate of the ungodly is made from prosperity unto adversity, their utter destruction is commonly wrought, for their house being built upon the sand, the tempests and the winds arise and quite overthrow it. The whole manner of the overthrow is described in Job_18:15.—Muffet.
The righteous shall “have a place in the Lord’s house,” immovable here (Isa_56:4-5), and in eternity (Rev_3:12).—Bridges.
Solomon had a signal exemplification of this in the case of Saul and his father David. Possibly this instance might be in his eye at the time.—Wardlaw.
Eventually there must be overthrow, even if it be no overthrow but death. When the wicked do fall, there is positively nothing of them left. While in the deepest disasters of the righteous, nothing is not left. “His house,” and by that is meant every possible real interest (1Sa_2:35) shall stand for ever.—Miller.
Pro_12:8. Sometimes, and very often, the wicked shall commend him, commonly the righteous, and always the Lord Himself, but most of all at the last day, before all men and angels. They that are not void of uprightness shall not be destitute of praise and honour. Though some be blind that they cannot discern their understanding and graces, yet others have their eyesight and behold them. Though some be dumb and will not speak of their virtues, yet others have their lips open to commend them.—Dod.
And all wisdom consists in this, that a man rightly know and worship God. Apollonius, Archimedes, and Aristotle were wise in their generations, and so accounted, but by whom? Not by St. Paul, he hath another opinion of them (Rom_1:22). Not by our Saviour (Mat_11:25).—Trapp.
According—“in exact proportion;” such is the meaning of the Hebrew. A man is more applauded for good sense than perhaps anything else. Wisdom—“shrewdness;” that attribute that leads to success. Therefore it sometimes means success (2Ki_18:7). Successful shrewdness is a very positive sort. Such is the shrewdness of the righteous man (Pro_12:7). Perverse heart—“crooked sense,” literally heart; though heart contains more of sense (νους) than we ascribe to it. If a man whose mind works crookedly every time becomes an object of contempt, why ought not the wicked to become so, whose very helmsmanships are a deceit? (Pro_12:5).—Miller.
How thrilling will be the commendation of wisdom before the assembled universe! (Luk_12:42-44). Who will not then acknowledge the wise choice of an earthly cross with a heavenly crown?—Bridges.
This is capable of two interpretations. It may refer to commendation by men, or to commendation by God. In the one case it may mean mere secular discretions, in the other it must mean religious principle, according to the invariable testimony that “the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom.” This is not the wisdom that secures the eulogy of men; but it will ever secure that of the Infinitely Wise, the Infinitely Good. And, indeed, the two things may be united. A man who fears God will always be a faithful counsellor, and if at the same time he have sound discretion in regard to the affairs of life, this will form the perfection of character, and there will be commendation both from men and God.… In the pride of your hearts, you may affect to hold very cheap the contempt of men; though even that is often more pretension than reality, disappointment rankling at the heart, while scorn is curling the lip. But what must it be to be “lightly esteemed” at last, to be “despised” by that God who has in his hands the destinies of the universe!—Wardlaw.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On vv5–7 v. 5. The thoughts of the righteous are right,…
v. 5. The thoughts of the righteous are right, just and pious, leading to words and deeds which are also righteous; but the counsels of the wicked are deceit, the manner in which they influence and direct others is deceitful and is bound to work harm.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv5, 7 The words of wicked people are an ambush waiting…
The words of wicked people are an ambush waiting for a chance to kill
The deceitful things that wicked people say in order to harm other people are spoken of as if their words are waiting to kill someone by surprise. AT: "The deceitful things wicked people say are like a person who waits to kill someone by surprise" (See: Metaphor)
Read full note →
the words of the upright keep them safe
"the advice from an upright person keeps people safe"
the upright
"the righteous person" or "the honest person" or "the just person"
translationWords
just
advice
evil
deceive
word
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v7 12:7 The wicked might prosper momentarily, but they do…
12:7 The wicked might prosper momentarily, but they do not last. The family of the godly stands firm for generations.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.