Bible Strands
Proverbs 10:18
The one who conceals hatred has lying lips, and whoever spreads slander is a fool.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Solomon addresses Israel within a collection of antithetical proverbs, framing this warning between instructions on heeding correction and the consequences of unrestrained speech.
The words — The text highlights מְכַסֶּ֣ה (me.kha.Seh), meaning conceals, and דִ֝בָּ֗ה (di.Bah), meaning slander, to describe the dual sin of hidden malice and spoken falsehood.
The thread — This pattern of disguised hostility and deceitful speech appears in Proverbs 26:24, Psalms 55:21, and 2 Samuel 3:27.
Why it lands — The verse demands transparent communication and warns that hiding hatred or spreading rumors marks a person as foolish, directly contrasting the wise restraint praised in the surrounding context.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
He that hideth hatred with lying lips, and he that uttereth a slander, is a fool.
Cross-references
- Proverbs 26:24 A hateful man disguises himself with his speech, but he lays up deceit in his heart.
- Psalms 55:21 His speech is smooth as butter, but war is in his heart. His words are softer than oil, yet they are swords unsheathed.
- 2 Samuel 3:27 When Abner returned to Hebron, Joab pulled him aside into the gateway, as if to speak to him privately, and there Joab stabbed him in the stomach. So Abner died on account of the blood of Joab’s brother Asahel.
- 2 Samuel 13:23 Two years later, when Absalom’s sheepshearers were at Baal-hazor near Ephraim, he invited all the sons of the king.
- Psalms 15:3 who has no slander on his tongue, who does no harm to his neighbor, who casts no scorn on his friend,
- 1 Samuel 18:21 “I will give her to David,” Saul thought, “so that she may be a snare to him, and the hand of the Philistines may be against him.” So Saul said to David, “For a second time now you can be my son-in-law.”
- 1 Samuel 18:29 he grew even more afraid of David. So from then on Saul was David’s enemy.
- 2 Samuel 11:8 Then he said to Uriah, “Go down to your house and wash your feet.” So Uriah left the palace, and a gift from the king followed him.
- 2 Samuel 20:9 “Are you well, my brother?” Joab asked Amasa. And with his right hand Joab grabbed Amasa by the beard to kiss him.
- Psalms 5:9 For not a word they speak can be trusted; destruction lies within them. Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit.