Proverbs 21:6

6 He who makes treasure by a lying tongue [is a] fleeting vapor [and] seeker of death.

Proverbs 21:6 Meaning and Commentary

Proverbs 21:6

The getting of treasures by a lying tongue
By telling lies in trade; by bearing false witness in a court of judicature; or by preaching false doctrines in the church of God: [is] a vanity tossed to and fro of them that seek death:
such treasures, though ever so great, are like any light thing, smoke or vapour, straw, stubble, chaff, or a feather, tossed about the wind; which is expressive of the instability uncertainty of riches ill gotten; they do not last long, but are taken away and carried off by one providence or another; and they are likewise harmful and pernicious; they issue in death: and those that seek after them, and obtain them in a bad way, are said to "seek death": not intentionally, but eventually; this they certainly find, if grace prevent not; see ( Proverbs 8:36 ) . Jarchi reads it, they are the "snares of death" to him; and so the Septuagint version.

Proverbs 21:6 In-Context

4 Haughtiness of [the] eyes and pride of heart, [the] lamp of the wicked [are] sin.

5 The plans of the diligent only [lead] to abundance, but all who are hasty, only to want.

6 He who makes treasure by a lying tongue [is a] fleeting vapor [and] seeker of death.

7 The violence of the wicked will sweep them away, for they refuse to do justice.

8 Crooked is the way of a man and a foreigner, but the pure [is] upright [in] his conduct.

Footnotes

• [a] Hebrew "seekers"