💡WEB · Proverbs 16:27
What does Proverbs 16:27 mean?
"A worthless man devises mischief. His speech is like a scorching fire."
— Proverbs 16:27 (World English Bible)
Surrounding context
Pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul, and health to the bones.
There is a way which seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.
The appetite of the laboring man labors for him; for his mouth urges him on.
A worthless man devises mischief. His speech is like a scorching fire.
A perverse man stirs up strife. A whisperer separates close friends.
A man of violence entices his neighbor, and leads him in a way that is not good.
One who winks his eyes to plot perversities, one who compresses his lips, is bent on evil.
Explanation
Proverbs 16:27 offers a compact but vivid warning about the connection between a person's character and the damage their words can cause. In plain language, the verse says that a worthless or wicked person actively works to stir up trouble, and when that trouble takes verbal form, it burns like fire that scorches everything it touches. The imagery is deliberate: this is not someone who occasionally says something unkind, but someone whose inner corruption produces speech that is destructive by nature, spreading harm the way flames spread through dry material.
The book of Proverbs is traditionally attributed to Solomon, though it also includes contributions from other wise men, compiled to instruct young people—particularly Solomon's son and successive generations—in practical righteousness and godly living. Proverbs 16 sits within a section largely concerned with the sovereignty of God over human plans, the value of righteous speech, and the destructive power of wickedness. The verse reflects the wisdom tradition's consistent teaching that words are not neutral; they reveal and reinforce the condition of the heart. In the ancient Israelite context, wisdom literature often used agricultural and natural imagery—fire, storms, poison—to communicate moral truths in memorable, concrete terms, and this verse follows that pattern.
Theologically, the verse underscores a principle found throughout Scripture: speech flows from character, and character reveals itself through speech. Jesus later echoes this connection when he says that "out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks" (Matthew 12:34). The "worthless man" here
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