Bible Strands
Proverbs 17:7
Eloquent words are unfit for a fool; how much worse are lying lips to a ruler!
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The author of Proverbs 17 addresses a general audience with a wisdom maxim positioned between a statement on familial honor and a warning about bribery.
The words — נָאוָ֣ה (na.Vah) means “[is] suitable,” and יֶ֑תֶר (Ye.ter) means “excellence,” forming the phrase that declares eloquence structurally inappropriate for a fool.
The thread — The text’s warning about deceptive speech before authority runs through Proverbs 29:12, which notes that rulers who listen to lies corrupt their officials, and Psalms 50:16, which condemns the wicked for reciting God’s statutes while living in opposition to them.
Why it lands — The text states that flattering or lying speech toward a ruler is fundamentally unfit and dangerous, demanding that readers align their words with truth and recognize the heightened accountability of addressing those in power.
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
Excellent speech becometh not a fool: much less do lying lips a prince.
Cross-references
- Proverbs 29:12 If a ruler listens to lies, all his officials will be wicked.
- Psalms 50:16 To the wicked, however, God says, “What right have you to recite My statutes and to bear My covenant on your lips?
- 2 Samuel 23:3 The God of Israel spoke; the Rock of Israel said to me, ‘He who rules the people with justice, who rules in the fear of God,
- Job 34:12 Indeed, it is true that God does not act wickedly, and the Almighty does not pervert justice.
- Psalms 101:3 I will set no worthless thing before my eyes. I hate the work of those who fall away; it shall not cling to me.
- Proverbs 12:19 Truthful lips endure forever, but a lying tongue lasts only a moment.
- Proverbs 16:10 A divine verdict is on the lips of a king; his mouth must not betray justice.
- Proverbs 26:7 Like lame legs hanging limp is a proverb in the mouth of a fool.
- Matthew 7:5 You hypocrite! First take the beam out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.