Bible Strands
Proverbs 12:6
The words of the wicked lie in wait for blood, but the speech of the upright rescues them.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The teacher addresses a student learning wisdom, contrasting the daily outcomes of righteous and wicked speech in Proverbs 12. The words — אֱרָב־ ('e.rov-) literally means to lie in wait for, and יַצִּילֵֽ/ם\׃ (ya.tzi.Le/m) literally means it delivers them, marking the shift from ambush to rescue. The thread — The parallel motifs of ambush and protective speech run through Proverbs 14:3, Jeremiah 5:26, and Proverbs 1:11. Why it lands — The text states that wicked speech plots harm while upright speech actively rescues, and it requires the reader to audit their own words to ensure they preserve rather than endanger.
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
The words of the wicked are to lie in wait for blood: but the mouth of the upright shall deliver them.
Cross-references
- Proverbs 14:3 The proud speech of a fool brings a rod to his back, but the lips of the wise protect them.
- Jeremiah 5:26 For among My people are wicked men; they watch like fowlers lying in wait; they set a trap to catch men.
- Proverbs 1:11 If they say, “Come along, let us lie in wait for blood, let us ambush the innocent without cause,
- Isaiah 59:7 Their feet run to evil; they are swift to shed innocent blood. Their thoughts are sinful thoughts; ruin and destruction lie in their wake.
- 2 Samuel 17:1 Furthermore, Ahithophel said to Absalom, “Let me choose twelve thousand men and set out tonight in pursuit of David.
- Esther 4:7 and Mordecai told him all that had happened to him, including the exact amount of money that Haman had promised to pay into the royal treasury in order to destroy the Jews.
- Esther 7:4 For my people and I have been sold out to destruction, death, and annihilation. If we had merely been sold as menservants and maidservants, I would have remained silent, because no such distress would justify burdening the king.”
- Acts 23:12 When daylight came, the Jews formed a conspiracy and bound themselves with an oath not to eat or drink until they had killed Paul.
- Acts 23:15 Now then, you and the Sanhedrin petition the commander to bring him down to you on the pretext of examining his case more carefully. We are ready to kill him on the way.”
- Micah 7:1 Woe is me! For I am like one gathering summer fruit at the gleaning of the vineyard; there is no cluster to eat, no early fig that I crave.