Proverbs 6 · Verse 12

Proverbs 6:12

A naughty person, a wicked man, walketh with a froward mouth.
Proverbs 6:12, King James Version

Proverbs 6:12 in other translations

BSBA worthless person, a wicked man, walks with a perverse mouth,
WEBA worthless person, a man of iniquity, is he who walks with a perverse mouth,
ASVA worthless person, a man of iniquity, Is he that walketh with a perverse mouth;
YLTA man of worthlessness, a man of iniquity, Walking with perverseness of mouth,
DARBYA man of Belial, a wicked person, is he that goeth about with a perverse mouth;
BBEA good-for-nothing man is an evil-doer; he goes on his way causing trouble with false words;
WebsterA naughty person, a wicked man, walketh with a froward mouth.

What does Proverbs 6:12 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
12. A naughty person--literally, "A man of Belial," or of worthlessness, that is, for good, and so depraved, or wicked (compare 1Sa 25:25; 30:22, &c.). Idleness and vice are allied. Though indolent in acts, he actively and habitually (walketh) is ill-natured in speech (Pr 4:24).

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

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 12 A naughty person - אדם בליעל adam beliyal, "Adam good for nothing." When he lost his innocence. A man apostata; Old MS. Bible. A wicked man - איש און ish aven. He soon became a general transgressor after having departed from his God. All his posterity, unless restored by Divine grace, are men of Belial, and sinners by trade; and most of them, in one form or other, answer the character here given. They yield their members instruments of unrighteousness unto sin.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Proverbs 6:12-19
If the slothful are to be condemned, who do nothing, much more those that do all the ill they can. Observe how such a man is described. He says and does every thing artfully, and with design. His ruin shall come without warning, and without relief. Here is a list of things hateful to God. Those sins are in a special manner provoking to God, which are hurtful to the comfort of human life. These things which God hates, we must hate in ourselves; it is nothing to hate them in others. Let us shun all such practices, and watch and pray against them; and avoid, with marked disapproval, all who are guilty of them, whatever may be their rank.

Matthew Henry, 1706 · public domain

Proverbs 6:12 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.

אָדָ֣ם'a.Dama person ofH120
בְּ֭לִיַּעַלBe.li.ya.'alworthlessnessH1100
אִ֣ישׁ'isha person ofH376
אָ֑וֶן'A.venwickednessH205
ה֝וֹלֵ֗ךְho.Lekh[is] walkingH1980
עִקְּשׁ֥וּת'i.ke.Shutcrookedness ofH6143
פֶּֽה\׃PehmouthH6310

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

Cross references for Proverbs 6:12

  • Matthew 12:34

    O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.

  • Proverbs 16:27

    An ungodly man diggeth up evil: and in his lips there is as a burning fire.

  • Proverbs 4:24

    Put away from thee a froward mouth, and perverse lips put far from thee.

  • 1 Timothy 5:13

    And withal they learn to be idle, wandering about from house to house; and not only idle, but tattlers also and busybodies, speaking things which they ought not.

  • Psalms 52:2-4

    Thy tongue deviseth mischiefs; like a sharp razor, working deceitfully. Thou lovest evil more than good; and lying rather than to speak righteousness. Selah. Thou lovest all devouring words, O thou deceitful tongue.

  • Psalms 59:7

    Behold, they belch out with their mouth: swords are in their lips: for who, say they, doth hear?

  • Titus 1:10-11

    For there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, specially they of the circumcision: Whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole houses, teaching things which they ought not, for filthy lucre’s sake.

  • Acts 20:30

    Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.

  • Proverbs 17:4

    A wicked doer giveth heed to false lips; and a liar giveth ear to a naughty tongue.

  • Proverbs 8:13

    The fear of the Lord is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate.

  • Psalms 73:8-9

    They are corrupt, and speak wickedly concerning oppression: they speak loftily. They set their mouth against the heavens, and their tongue walketh through the earth.

  • Psalms 10:7

    His mouth is full of cursing and deceit and fraud: under his tongue is mischief and vanity.

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

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
naughty.
11:6; 17:4; 1Sa 17:28; Jer 24:2,8-10; Jas 1:21
walketh.
14; 2:12; 4:24; 8:13; Ps 10:3,7; 36:3; 52:2-4; 59:7; 73:8,9; Mt 12:34
Ac 20:30; 1Ti 5:13; Tit 1:10,11; Jas 3:6

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

Context

  • Proverbs 6:11

    So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth, and thy want as an armed man.

  • Proverbs 6:12

    A naughty person, a wicked man, walketh with a froward mouth.

  • Proverbs 6:13

    He winketh with his eyes, he speaketh with his feet, he teacheth with his fingers;

Read all of Proverbs 6

Proverbs 6:12 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		El hombre malo, el hombre depravado, anda en perversidad de boca;
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		Celui qui marche, la perversité dans sa bouche, est un homme de Bélial, un homme inique;
German
Elberfelder 1871		Ein Belialsmensch, ein heilloser Mann ist, wer umhergeht mit Verkehrtheit des Mundes,
Latin
Clementine Vulgate		Homo apostata, vir inutilis, graditur ore perverso;