Proverbs 10:13 · World English Bible
Proverbs 10:13 Meaning Wisdom Is Found on the Lips
Wisdom is found on the lips of him who has discernment, but a rod is for the back of him who is void of understanding.
What does Proverbs 10:13 mean?
A mind that has understood sees that it needs no defense, and so what comes from it is quiet and healing, offered freely because it costs nothing to give what cannot be lost. The other mind, still believing itself separate and guilty, feels the sting of its own choice and calls that sting punishment from outside.
From the Christian Psychology reading below.
Proverbs 10:13 through 1 lens
The same verse, read by one tradition.
Christian Psychology
CHRISTIAN PSYCHOLOGY
Christian Psychology
A mind that has understood sees that it needs no defense, and so what comes from it is quiet and healing, offered freely because it costs nothing to give what cannot be lost. The other mind, still believing itself separate and guilty, feels the sting of its own choice and calls that sting punishment from outside.
The rod is not a hand raised against it. It is the discomfort of holding to fear when love is standing near, the ache the mind mistakes for the world's blow when it is only the pressure of its own resistance. Choose the gentler teacher and the rod is simply set down.
Lips: the mind at the point where it gives itself outward, revealing which teacher it has chosen by what it offers. Rod: the self-inflicted sting the guilty mind feels as if it came from without, the correction it reads as attack.
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Live Proverbs 10:13 today
- When you feel the hot flush of being criticized, wait before replying. Most of the pain in that moment is your own resistance, and it eases if you let a minute pass.
- Let someone be wrong today without correcting them. Not every inaccuracy needs your help, and the relationship is usually worth more than the record.
- In a tense meeting, be the person who speaks last and quietly. You do not have to win the room, and the voice that is not pushing is the one people lean in to hear.
How much of what hurts today is something I am holding onto rather than something being done to me?
The same truth in other traditions
Tao Te Ching 22
The one who does not need to be right is listened to. Grasping to defend yourself is what makes you small, and letting go is what gives your words their weight.
Stoicism · Epictetus
Nothing outside has the power to wound you. What stings is your own judgment about it, and you are the one holding the judgment.
Hinduism · Bhagavad Gita
Speech that is true, kind and causes no agitation is itself a discipline. What comes out calm comes from a mind that has stopped fighting itself.
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