Proverbs 10:8

8 A wise heart accepts commands, but foolish lips will be destroyed.^[a]

Proverbs 10:8 Meaning and Commentary

Proverbs 10:8

The wise in heart will receive commandments
Such who have true wisdom in the hidden part of the heart, of which the fear of the Lord is the beginning: these will not only, as good subjects, honour their king, and attend to his lawful commands; and, as dutiful children, regard those of their parents; and, as faithful servants, hearken to those of their masters; but, as such that fear the Lord, will receive and cheerfully obey the commandments of God and Christ;

but a prating fool shall fall;
like Diotrephes, that prated against the Apostle John and other saints. Or, "a fool of lips" ^F2; whose folly is proclaimed and made known by his lips; who, out of the abundance of it in his heart, speaks and pours it out by his lips: such an one falls into sin and into mischief; he falls into disgrace in this world, and into hell in the next. The Targum is,

``the fool by his lips shall be taken;''

as in a snare.

---

FOOTNOTES:

F2 (Mytpv lywa) "stultus labiis", Montanus

Proverbs 10:8 In-Context

6 Blessings are on the head of the righteous, but the mouth of the wicked conceals violence.

7 The remembrance of the righteous is a blessing, but the name of the wicked will rot.

8 A wise heart accepts commands, but foolish lips will be destroyed.

9 The one who lives with integrity lives securely, but whoever perverts his ways will be found out.

10 A sly wink of the eye causes grief, and foolish lips will be destroyed.

Footnotes

• [a] Pr 10:10,17; Hs 4:6