Proverbs 16:27 Meaning A Worthless Man Devises Mischief

A mind that has chosen fear goes searching for its own guilt in the world, digging up wrongs to look at, because guilt that stays inside is unbearable and must be found outside where it can be attacked. What such a mind unearths is only its own condemnation, buried and then discovered as if it belonged to someone else. Its speech burns, for words spoken from guilt carry the wish to wound, spreading the fire the mind is trying to be rid of.

So the evil that seems dug up from the world was placed there first by the digger, and the flame on the lips is only the mind's own attack circling back to scorch the one who threw it.

Fire: the mind's guilt turned into words of attack, the burning wish to wound another so its own condemnation might be carried outward

A man who never looks inward does not get rid of the darkness in him. He only refuses to see it, and what a person won't look at does not go away. It works on its own and looks for a way out. So he digs up trouble, because stirring up conflict outside is easier than sitting with the emptiness inside.

That buried anger rides along in his words. When he speaks he is not just making a point; he is unloading everything he never admitted, and the people near him take the heat he could not carry himself.