Proverbs 12:13

13 An evil man is ensnared by the transgression of his lips, but the righteous escapes from trouble.

Proverbs 12:13 Meaning and Commentary

Proverbs 12:13

The wicked is snared by the transgression of [his] lips
A wicked man often brings himself into trouble by giving his tongue too great a liberty, and by making free with the characters of others; sometimes by treasonable speeches against his sovereign; sometimes by bearing false Witness, and by lies and perjuries, of which he is convicted in open court; and by calumnies, reproaches, detraction, and scandal raised by him, and cast on his neighbour, who sues him for these things: or "in the transgression of the lips [is] an evil snare"; or "the snare of an evil man" ^F25; by the wicked things they say they lay a snare for others, which the simple and incautious are taken in; so heretics ensnare men by their good words and fair speeches, and plausibility of their doctrines; so antichrist, by lies in hypocrisy, and by his deceivableness of unrighteousness; but the just shall come out of trouble;
or escape it; he escapes the snare that is laid for him, and so the trouble consequent upon it; a just man escapes trouble by not giving his tongue the liberty wicked men do; and when he by any means falls into trouble, he gets out of it again by giving good words to those in whose hands he is; and by his prayers and supplications unto God. The righteous are sometimes in trouble, and in such sort of trouble as others are not; by reason of their own corruptions, Satan's temptations, the hidings of God's face, as well as various outward afflictions; out of all which the Lord delivers them sooner or later, in life or in death, ( Psalms 34:19 ) . Jarchi exemplifies this in the case of righteous Noah, who escaped the flood, when the world of the ungodly were destroyed by it, for the transgression of their lips, saying, as in ( Job 21:15 ) , "what is the Almighty?" &c.

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FOOTNOTES:

F25 (er vqwm Mytpv evpb) "in praevaricatione labiorum laqueos malus", Montanus, Michaelis, Schultens, so Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Cocceius; "vel laqueus hominis mali", Mercerus, Gejerus.

Proverbs 12:13 In-Context

11 He who tills his land will have plenty of bread, but he who follows worthless pursuits has no sense.

12 The strong tower of the wicked comes to ruin, but the root of the righteous stands firm.

13 An evil man is ensnared by the transgression of his lips, but the righteous escapes from trouble.

14 From the fruit of his words a man is satisfied with good, and the work of a man's hand comes back to him.

15 The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to advice.