Proverbs 17:4

4 An evildoer listens to wicked lips; and a liar gives heed to a mischievous tongue.

Proverbs 17:4 Meaning and Commentary

Proverbs 17:4

A wicked doer giveth heed to false lips
A man of an ill spirit, of a mischievous disposition, that delights in doing wickedness; he carefully attends to such as speak falsehood; he listens to lies and calumnies, loves to hear ill reports of persons, and takes pleasure in spreading them to the hurt of their characters; and men of bad hearts and lives give heed to seducing spirits, to false teachers, to inch as speak lies in hypocrisy, who sooth and harden them in their wickedness; [and] a liar giveth ear to a naughty tongue:
or, "to a tongue of destruction" F1; a culumniating, backbiting tongue, which destroys the good name and reputation of men; and he that is given to lying is made up of lying, or is a lie itself, as the word signifies; who roves and makes a lie, as antichrist and his followers; such an one hearkens diligently to everything that may detract from the character of those especially he bears an ill will to: or it may be better rendered, "he that hearkens to a lie [gives heed] to a naughty tongue" F2; for a lying tongue is a naughty one, evil in itself, pernicious in its effects and consequences.


FOOTNOTES:

F1 (twh Nwvl le) "perniciosae linguae", Tigurine version; "linguae confractionum calamitatum, injuriarum", Vatablus; "ad linguam exiliorum", Michaelis.
F2 So Michaelis.

Proverbs 17:4 In-Context

2 A slave who deals wisely will rule over a child who acts shamefully, and will share the inheritance as one of the family.
3 The crucible is for silver, and the furnace is for gold, but the Lord tests the heart.
4 An evildoer listens to wicked lips; and a liar gives heed to a mischievous tongue.
5 Those who mock the poor insult their Maker; those who are glad at calamity will not go unpunished.
6 Grandchildren are the crown of the aged, and the glory of children is their parents.
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.