Proverbs 30 · Verse 10

Proverbs 30:10

Accuse not a servant unto his master, lest he curse thee, and thou be found guilty.
Proverbs 30:10, King James Version

Proverbs 30:10 in other translations

BSBDo not slander a servant to his master, or he will curse you, and you will bear the guilt.
WEB“Don’t slander a servant to his master, lest he curse you, and you be held guilty.
ASVSlander not a servant unto his master, Lest he curse thee, and thou be held guilty.
YLTAccuse not a servant unto his lord, Lest he disesteem thee, and thou be found guilty.
DARBYSpeak not too much about a servant to his master, lest he curse thee, and thou be held guilty.
BBEDo not say evil of a servant to his master, or he will put a curse on you, and you will get into trouble.
WebsterAccuse not a servant to his master, lest he curse thee, and thou be found guilty.

What does Proverbs 30:10 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
10. Accuse not--Slander not (Psa 10:7). curse ... guilty--lest, however lowly, he be exasperated to turn on thee, and your guilt be made to appear.

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 10 Accuse not a servant - Do not bring a false accusation against a servant, lest thou be found guilty of the falsehood, and he curse thee for having traduced his character, and in his turn traduce thine. In general, do not meddle with other people's servants.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary
Slander not a servant to his master, accuse him not in small matters, to make mischief.

Matthew Henry, 1706 · public domain

Proverbs 30:10 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

אַל\־'al-may notH408
תַּלְשֵׁ֣ןtal.Shenyou slanderH3960
עֶ֭בֶד'E.veda slaveH5650
אֶל\־'el-toH413
אֲדֹנָ֑יו'a.do.novmaster<s> hisH113
פֶּֽן\־pen-lestH6435
יְקַלֶּלְךָ֥ye.ka.lel.Chahe should curse youH7043
וְאָשָֽׁמְתָּ\׃ve.'a.Sha.me.taand you will be held guiltyH816

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Proverbs 30:10

  • Ecclesiastes 7:21

    Also take no heed unto all words that are spoken; lest thou hear thy servant curse thee:

  • Romans 14:4

    Who art thou that judgest another man’s servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be holden up: for God is able to make him stand.

  • Daniel 3:8-18

    Wherefore at that time certain Chaldeans came near, and accused the Jews. They spake and said to the king Nebuchadnezzar, O king, live for ever. Thou, O king, hast made a decree, that every man that shall hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of musick, shall fall down and worship the golden image: And whoso falleth not down and worshippeth, that he should be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace. …

  • 2 Samuel 19:26-27

    And he answered, My lord, O king, my servant deceived me: for thy servant said, I will saddle me an ass, that I may ride thereon, and go to the king; because thy servant is lame. And he hath slandered thy servant unto my lord the king; but my lord the king is as an angel of God: do therefore what is good in thine eyes.

  • 2 Chronicles 24:22-24

    Thus Joash the king remembered not the kindness which Jehoiada his father had done to him, but slew his son. And when he died, he said, The Lord look upon it, and require it. And it came to pass at the end of the year, that the host of Syria came up against him: and they came to Judah and Jerusalem, and destroyed all the princes of the people from among the people, and sent all the spoil of them unto the king of Damascus. For the army of the Syrians came with a small company of men, and the Lord delivered a very great host into their hand, because they had forsaken the Lord God of their fathers. So they executed judgment against Joash.

  • Daniel 6:13

    Then answered they and said before the king, That Daniel, which is of the children of the captivity of Judah, regardeth not thee, O king, nor the decree that thou hast signed, but maketh his petition three times a day.

  • Proverbs 24:23-24

    These things also belong to the wise. It is not good to have respect of persons in judgment. He that saith unto the wicked, Thou art righteous; him shall the people curse, nations shall abhor him:

  • Daniel 6:24

    And the king commanded, and they brought those men which had accused Daniel, and they cast them into the den of lions, them, their children, and their wives; and the lions had the mastery of them, and brake all their bones in pieces or ever they came at the bottom of the den.

  • 1 Samuel 24:9

    And David said to Saul, Wherefore hearest thou men’s words, saying, Behold, David seeketh thy hurt?

  • Deuteronomy 23:15

    Thou shalt not deliver unto his master the servant which is escaped from his master unto thee:

  • Proverbs 11:26

    He that withholdeth corn, the people shall curse him: but blessing shall be upon the head of him that selleth it.

  • 2 Samuel 16:1-4

    And when David was a little past the top of the hill, behold, Ziba the servant of Mephibosheth met him, with a couple of asses saddled, and upon them two hundred loaves of bread, and an hundred bunches of raisins, and an hundred of summer fruits, and a bottle of wine. And the king said unto Ziba, What meanest thou by these? And Ziba said, The asses be for the king’s household to ride on; and the bread and summer fruit for the young men to eat; and the wine, that such as be faint in the wilderness may drink. And the king said, And where is thy master’s son? And Ziba said unto the king, Behold, he abideth at Jerusalem: for he said, To day shall the house of Israel restore me the kingdom of my father. Then said the king to Ziba, Behold, thine are all that pertained unto Mephibosheth. And Ziba said, I humbly beseech thee that I may find grace in thy sight, my lord, O king.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Accuse not. Heb. Hurt not with thy tongue.
24:23; De 23:15; 1Sa 22:9,10; 24:9; 26:19; 30:15; 2Sa 16:1-4
2Sa 19:26,27; Da 3:8-18; 6:13,24; Ro 14:4
lest.
11:26; 24:24; 28:27; De 15:9; 2Ch 24:22-24

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • Proverbs 30:9

    Lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the Lord? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain.

  • Proverbs 30:10

    Accuse not a servant unto his master, lest he curse thee, and thou be found guilty.

  • Proverbs 30:11

    There is a generation that curseth their father, and doth not bless their mother.

Read all of Proverbs 30

Proverbs 30:10 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909
No acuses al siervo ante su señor, porque no te maldiga, y peques.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885
N’accuse pas un serviteur auprès de son maître, de peur qu’il ne te maudisse, et que tu n’en portes la peine.
German
Elberfelder 1871
Verleumde einen Knecht nicht bei seinem Herrn, damit er dir nicht fluche, und du es büßen müssest.
Latin
Clementine Vulgate
Ne accuses servum ad dominum suum, ne forte maledicat tibi, et corruas.