Bible Strands
Proverbs 26:28
A lying tongue hates those it crushes, and a flattering mouth causes ruin.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The wisdom writer addresses Israel’s community within a chapter contrasting fools with the righteous, placing this warning immediately after a proverb about the self-destructive nature of malicious schemes.
The words — חָלָק (chalak) describes a smooth or flattering mouth, while מִדְחֶה (midcheh) literally denotes a stumbling place or ruin that such speech actively produces.
The thread — This mechanism of deceptive speech recurs in Proverbs 6:24 regarding the adulteress’s smooth tongue, Luke 20:20 where spies feign sincerity to trap Jesus, and John 8:44 which identifies the devil as the source of falsehood.
Why it lands — The text requires readers to identify flattering words as instruments of harm rather than genuine praise, and to reject any speech engineered to manipulate or destroy others.
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
A lying tongue hateth those that are afflicted by it; and a flattering mouth worketh ruin.
Cross-references
- John 8:44 You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out his desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, refusing to uphold the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, because he is a liar and the father of lies.
- Luke 20:20 So they watched Him closely and sent spies who pretended to be sincere. They were hoping to catch Him in His words in order to hand Him over to the rule and authority of the governor.
- Proverbs 6:24 to keep you from the evil woman, from the smooth tongue of the adulteress.
- Proverbs 7:5 that they may keep you from the adulteress, from the stranger with seductive words.
- Proverbs 7:21 With her great persuasion she entices him; with her flattering lips she lures him.
- Proverbs 29:5 A man who flatters his neighbor spreads a net for his feet.
- John 10:32 But Jesus responded, “I have shown you many good works from the Father. For which of these do you stone Me?”
- John 8:40 But now you are trying to kill Me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham never did such a thing.
- John 15:22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin. Now, however, they have no excuse for their sin.