Bible Strands
Proverbs 13:6
Righteousness guards the man of integrity, but wickedness undermines the sinner.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The text is a wisdom maxim contrasting two moral trajectories, positioned between statements on falsehood and pretense of wealth.
The words — The Hebrew צְדָקָה (Tze.da.kah) denotes righteousness and תִּצֹּר (ti.Tzor) means it preserves, while תְּסַלֵּף (te.sa.Lef) means it subverts.
The thread — This structural contrast reappears in Proverbs 11:3 and Proverbs 11:5 regarding integrity and righteousness, and aligns with Psalms 15:2 on walking with integrity.
Why it lands — The text states that righteousness functions as a guard for the upright while wickedness actively subverts the sinner, demanding a reader to acknowledge moral character as an operative force rather than an abstract ideal.
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
Righteousness keepeth him that is upright in the way: but wickedness overthroweth the sinner.
Cross-references
- Proverbs 11:3 The integrity of the upright guides them, but the perversity of the faithless destroys them.
- Proverbs 11:5 The righteousness of the blameless directs their path, but the wicked fall by their own wickedness.
- Psalms 15:2 He who walks with integrity and practices righteousness, who speaks the truth from his heart,
- Psalms 25:21 May integrity and uprightness preserve me, because I wait for You.
- Psalms 26:1 Of David. Vindicate me, O LORD! For I have walked with integrity; I have trusted in the LORD without wavering.
- Psalms 140:11 May no slanderer be established in the land; may calamity hunt down the man of violence.
- Proverbs 21:12 The Righteous One considers the house of the wicked and brings the wicked to ruin.
- Proverbs 5:22 The iniquities of a wicked man entrap him; the cords of his sin entangle him.
- 2 Chronicles 28:23 He sacrificed to the gods of Damascus, who had defeated him, and he said, “Because the gods of the kings of Aram have helped them, I will sacrifice to them that they may help me.” But these gods were the downfall of Ahaz and of all Israel.