💡WEB · Proverbs 15:28
What does Proverbs 15:28 mean?
"The heart of the righteous weighs answers, but the mouth of the wicked gushes out evil."
— Proverbs 15:28 (World English Bible)
Surrounding context
Yahweh will uproot the house of the proud, but he will keep the widow’s borders intact.
Yahweh detests the thoughts of the wicked, but the thoughts of the pure are pleasing.
He who is greedy for gain troubles his own house, but he who hates bribes will live.
The heart of the righteous weighs answers, but the mouth of the wicked gushes out evil.
Yahweh is far from the wicked, but he hears the prayer of the righteous.
The light of the eyes rejoices the heart. Good news gives health to the bones.
The ear that listens to reproof lives, and will be at home among the wise.
Explanation
Proverbs 15:28 draws a contrast between two ways of speaking that flow from two different kinds of hearts. The righteous person "weighs" their answers—carefully considering, testing, and measuring words before speaking them. The wicked person, by contrast, "gushes out evil"—words spill out impulsively, without restraint or reflection, like water bursting from a broken dam. The verse isn't primarily about eloquence or intelligence; it's about the discipline of thought that precedes speech.
This proverb belongs to the book of Proverbs, traditionally attributed largely to Solomon, though the book as a whole is a collection of wisdom sayings compiled over time for use in ancient Israel, particularly aimed at instructing the young in the ways of wisdom versus folly. Proverbs frequently uses this kind of antithetical parallelism—setting two opposite ideas side by side—to teach moral lessons memorably. The recurring themes throughout the book are the righteous versus the wicked, wisdom versus folly, and the tongue as a revealer of the heart's true condition. This verse fits squarely within a cluster of proverbs (see also 15:1-4, 15:23) that deal with the power and danger of speech.
Theologically, the verse teaches that speech is not neutral or accidental—it flows out of the heart's character (compare Luke 6:45, "out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks"). The righteous heart is marked by self-control, discernment, and a concern for truth and helpfulness, so it deliber
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