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Proverbs 12:6 · World English Bible

Proverbs 12:6 Meaning The Words of the Wicked Are About

The words of the wicked are about lying in wait for blood, but the speech of the upright rescues them.

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What does Proverbs 12:6 mean?

The ego speaks in ambush, and its words wait to wound because it believes that safety comes from striking first. A mind still teaching itself fear hears attack everywhere and answers in kind, laying traps for the very brothers it might have blessed, certain that another must be brought down for it to stand.

From the Christian Psychology reading below.

Proverbs 12:6 through 1 lens

The same verse, read by one tradition.

CHRISTIAN PSYCHOLOGY

Christian Psychology

The ego speaks in ambush, and its words wait to wound because it believes that safety comes from striking first. A mind still teaching itself fear hears attack everywhere and answers in kind, laying traps for the very brothers it might have blessed, certain that another must be brought down for it to stand.

The same power of speech can set free instead. A mind that has chosen love uses its words to release rather than to snare, and what it withholds from attack it keeps from its own account. The rescue works both ways at once, for in refusing to condemn another the mind delivers itself, discovering there was no enemy to guard against and no blood that needed spilling.

Mouth: the mind's power of expression, which can lie in wait to wound or open to set free, delivering whoever it refuses to condemn

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Christian Psychology lens

Live Proverbs 12:6 today

  1. Write the cutting reply, then delete it instead of sending it. The relief is immediate, and you will not spend tonight rereading what you sent.
  2. When someone starts in on an absent person, do not pile on. One neutral sentence turns the whole conversation, and the person who is not there never has to know you did it.
  3. In an argument where you can see the line that would really land, choose not to use it. Winning that way costs more than losing, every time.

What have I said this month that I would take back, and who am I about to say the next one to?

The same truth in other traditions

Buddhism · Right Speech

Before you speak, ask whether it is true, whether it is kind, and whether it is the time. If it fails the test, silence is the better answer.

Taoism · Tao Te Ching

True words are not dressed up, and dressed up words are not true. The one who wins arguments is rarely the one who knows.

Judaism · Lashon Hara

Speech that harms a person cannot be taken back, like feathers scattered to the wind. Guarding your tongue is counted as guarding a life.

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