Proverbs 12:19

Proverbs 12 belongs to the Proverbs of Solomon (Proverbs 10:1–22:16), a collection of two-line sayings in which the second line usually answers the first by contrast: the righteous and the wicked, the wise and the foolish, the diligent and the idle. Earlier in this chapter the contrast reaches the thoughts of the righteous and the wicked (Proverbs 12:5) and honest labour (Proverbs 12:11), and just before this passage Solomon warns that “the wicked is snared by the transgression of his lips” (Proverbs 12:13). From verse 15 on, the subject is speech: listening, answering an insult, testifying, lying, making peace and keeping quiet. The chapters on either side, Proverbs 10 and Proverbs 13, come back to the same subject again and again.

Two sayings about the prudent man frame the passage. In verse 16 he “covereth shame”, and in verse 23 he “concealeth knowledge”. The verb in both is kâçâh, to cover or hide, and the word for prudent in both is ʻârûwm. It describes a shrewd, sensible man with foresight, who weighs where his words will lead before he speaks. The same word can mean crafty or subtil, but in these verses it is high praise. Between those two pictures of a man who knows when to hold back, the passage sets truth against lies, wounding against healing, and plotting against peace.

Three of these verses speak of truth directly, and together they carry the heart of the passage. Truth shows what is right (Proverbs 12:17), truth lasts (12:19), and the LORD delights in those who live by it (12:22).

“There is that speaketh like the piercings of a sword: but the tongue of the wise is health.” The verb for “speaketh” here, bâṭâʼ, means to babble, to speak rashly and unadvisedly, so the first line pictures a man who talks before he thinks or lashes out in anger. His words go in like a chereb, a sword, the weapon every reader knew. Harsh criticism, gossip, slander, insults and careless remarks that wear down someone’s confidence all leave wounds of this kind, and they can ruin a name and break a friendship.

The wise man’s tongue is marpêʼ, a cure or medicine, and so healing and soundness. His words mend what was broken, comfort the grieving and restore what was torn apart. Another proverb says, “A wholesome tongue is a tree of life” (Proverbs 15:4), and the same chapter says that “the heart of the righteous studieth to answer” (Proverbs 15:28), which is the opposite of rash speech. James describes the tongue as a little member that kindles a great fire (James 3:5–6), and Paul tells believers to speak what is good for edifying, “that it may minister grace unto the hearers” (Ephesians 4:29). What comes out of the mouth shows what fills the heart, “for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh” (Matthew 12:34).

God made the world by speaking, “Let there be light” (Genesis 1:3), and people made in his image carry a small share of that power in their words, which shape things for good or ill. That is why Paul calls believers to speak the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15).

“The way of a fool is right in his own eyes: but he that hearkeneth unto counsel is wise.” The fool here is the ʼĕvîyl, the foolish man of Proverbs, who lacks the fear of God and refuses advice. His derek, his way or whole course of life, looks yâshâr to him, straight and right. He makes that judgment “in his own eyes”, ʻayin, the eyes standing for how he sees and weighs everything, so his own opinion is the only measure he uses. Pride shuts him in, and he goes on repeating his mistakes and missing his own faults.

The wise man, châkâm, is the one who listens. shâmaʻ is to hear with attention, often with the sense of heeding and obeying, so to hearken unto counsel means to listen, weigh what is said and be ready to act on it. ʻêtsâh is counsel, advice or a plan. In Israel counsel came from elders, prophets and wise men, and refusing it could bring harm on a whole community as well as on the man himself. The wise man’s readiness to be told something shows that he knows the limits of his own judgment.

Proverbs makes the same point elsewhere. “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil” (Proverbs 3:5–7). “There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death” (Proverbs 16:25). “Without counsel purposes are disappointed: but in the multitude of counsellors they are established” (Proverbs 15:22). At the root of it all, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction” (Proverbs 1:7).

The whole of Proverbs 1 is wisdom calling out to be heard. The best counsel comes from God, who gives it freely: “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him” (James 1:5). He gives it through his Word, and also through the wise people he places around us.

“A fool’s wrath is presently known: but a prudent man covereth shame.” The fool is the ʼĕvîyl again, and his wrath is kaʻaç, vexation, anger at being provoked. “Presently known” is in Hebrew “known in the day”, from yôwm, day, and yâdaʻ, to know. On the very day he is provoked, everyone knows it. His outburst puts his folly on show and brings more shame on himself.

The prudent man covers qâlôwn, shame or disgrace. Israel prized honour, and public disgrace could harm a man and his family for years, while an uncontrolled temper could turn a quarrel into a feud. So the prudent man keeps his composure. He can let an insult pass without reply, keep a private matter private, and leave unspoken what would only spread someone’s disgrace.

Proverbs praises this restraint often: “He that is slow to wrath is of great understanding: but he that is hasty of spirit exalteth folly” (Proverbs 14:29), “He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city” (Proverbs 16:32), and “A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger” (Proverbs 15:1). James gives the same counsel: “let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath: for the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God” (James 1:19–20). This patience reflects God himself, who proclaimed his name to Moses as “merciful and gracious, longsuffering” (Exodus 34:6).

“A prudent man concealeth knowledge: but the heart of fools proclaimeth foolishness.” The prudent man, ʻârûwm, has knowledge (daʻath), understanding and insight, and he covers it, kâçâh, the verb of verse 16. He weighs the moment, the hearers and the manner of saying it, and he holds back what he knows until it can be understood and used well. That keeps knowledge from being wasted or misused, and it keeps his word worth hearing.

The fools in this verse are kᵉçîyl, a different word from the ʼĕvîyl of verses 15 and 16, describing dull, stubborn people who lack discernment. Their lêb, the heart, the centre of mind, will and feeling, “proclaimeth”, qârâʼ, calls out or announces, ʼivveleth, foolishness, silliness or folly. Whatever is inside comes straight out, and everyone hears it, often to the fool’s own embarrassment or harm.

Proverbs notes the irony: “Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, is counted wise” (Proverbs 17:28), and “In the multitude of words there wanteth not sin: but he that refraineth his lips is wise” (Proverbs 10:19). James, who calls us to be swift to hear and slow to speak, says that the man who keeps from stumbling in word “is a perfect man” (James 3:2).

“Deceit is in the heart of them that imagine evil: but to the counsellors of peace is joy.” The heart, lêb, is the centre of a person’s thinking, will and moral choices, and the source of what he says and does. “Imagine” is chârash, to engrave or to fabricate, and figuratively to devise, usually something bad. The one who “imagines evil” (raʻ) is working out a plan of harm, and mirmâh, the same deceit as the false witness’s in verse 17, fills his heart. So the lies of the mouth begin in a heart that devises them. “Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life” (Proverbs 4:23), and “the LORD looketh on the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7).

The counsellors of peace are those who advise (yâʻats) toward shâlôwm, a word for completeness, soundness, welfare, peace and safety. In Israel counsellors gave guidance in legal, family and community matters, and the ones in this verse use that place to bring people to peace and well-being. Their reward is joy, simchâh, gladness and delight, both for themselves and for those they help.

The psalmist says, “The mouth of the righteous speaketh wisdom, and his tongue talketh of judgment” (Psalm 37:30), and James says that “the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace” (James 3:17–18). Paul asks believers to live peaceably with all men, as much as lies in them (Romans 12:18), and Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God” (Matthew 5:9).

“There shall no evil happen to the just: but the wicked shall be filled with mischief.” The verse promises that God keeps the righteous from the evil that would ruin them, and Scripture is plain that they still meet trouble on the way. The word for evil here is ʼâven, which means trouble, vanity and wickedness, with the sense of something that comes to naught. It differs from the word for “evil” in verse 20, although the KJV uses the same English word for both. The just man, tsaddîyq, is the upright and righteous man, right with God and fair with his neighbour.

He will still face hardship. “Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivereth him out of them all” (Psalm 34:19). The book of Job (Job 1) wrestles at length with the suffering of a righteous man, and Jesus told his disciples, “In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). What the proverb assures the just is that such trials will never be their undoing, because “all things work together for good to them that love God” (Romans 8:28). The full answer lies at the end, in the new creation where God wipes away every tear and there is no more death, sorrow, crying or pain (Revelation 21:4).

The wicked, râshâʻ, will be filled, mâlêʼ, with mischief, raʻ, which covers adversity, affliction, harm and calamity. To be filled with it is to have a life saturated and defined by it. Often this trouble is the fruit of their own schemes coming back on them. The word is the same raʻ that the plotter of verse 20 devises, so the evil a man plans for others ends up filling his own life. “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:7–8). Psalm 1 draws the same line between the way of the righteous and the way of the ungodly.

Every saying in this passage finds its fullest picture in Jesus Christ, who is “the power of God, and the wisdom of God” (1 Corinthians 1:24). Isaiah calls him “Counsellor” and “The Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6). In him “are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Colossians 2:3), and yet in his humanity he listened to his Father as the wise man of verse 15 listens to counsel: “I do nothing of myself; but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things” (John 8:28). He was obedient unto death, even the death of the cross (Philippians 2:8), and he calls us to learn of him, for he is “meek and lowly in heart” (Matthew 11:29).

Under the worst provocation he was the prudent man of verse 16, who “when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously” (1 Peter 2:23). He covered a shame that was ours, bearing public disgrace on the cross and being made a curse for us (Galatians 3:13). His Spirit now grows in believers the fruit of “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance” (Galatians 5:22–23), turning a quick temper toward his patience.

He is the truthful witness of verse 17 and the lip of truth of verse 19: “I am the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). At his trial false witnesses were sought against him (Matthew 26:59–60), and before the chief priests and Pilate he answered nothing, so that the governor marvelled (Matthew 27:12–14), a silence that held back what those hearers would refuse. No guile was found in his mouth (1 Peter 2:22), he was tempted in all points as we are, yet without sin (Hebrews 4:15), and the Father said of him, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17). He dealt truly in every word and deed, and he was wholly his Father’s delight.

He said that his words will outlast heaven and earth (Matthew 24:35), and he will come again as the rider called “Faithful and True” (Revelation 19:11). Through him the righteousness of God comes to all who believe (Romans 3:21–26), and his truth makes us free (John 8:32). He sends the Spirit of truth to guide his people into all truth (John 16:13), so that they put off the old man, “which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts”, and put on “the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness” (Ephesians 4:22–24).

His tongue was health. His hearers wondered at “the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth” (Luke 4:22). He is the Word who was with God and was God (John 1:1), and his words are spirit and life (John 6:63). He called Lazarus out of the tomb with a word (John 11:43–44), and the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5) sets out the life of blessing he gives. In his parables he opened the truth to those with ears to hear (Mark 4:9) and veiled it from those who would refuse it, and John records how many still believed not on him after all his miracles (John 12:37–40), their hearts proclaiming the folly of verse 23.

He is the counsellor of peace, who “made peace through the blood of his cross” (Colossians 1:20), and for the joy that was set before him he endured the cross (Hebrews 12:2). Those who trust him are justified by faith and have peace with God (Romans 5:1), and the peace of God, which passes all understanding, keeps their hearts (Philippians 4:7). He is also the just one of verse 21. He suffered the worst that sin could do, and God raised him up, having loosed the pains of death (Acts 2:24), so all who are in him share his security.

These sayings show us a God who hears every word we speak and cares about each one. He hates the lie because he is true, and he delights in the person who deals faithfully, so an honest word spoken on an ordinary day is something that pleases him. He holds the truth up for ever and gives the lie only a moment, and he keeps the just from the evil that would undo them. He gives counsel to the humble, joy to those who make peace, and healing through the tongue of the wise.

The passage also sets before us the person God is making of his people: someone who listens before deciding, keeps his temper, covers another’s shame, speaks the truth, heals with his words and knows when to be silent. In Christ that picture is complete, and by his Spirit it grows in all who belong to him.