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Proverbs 17:4 · World English Bible

Proverbs 17:4 Meaning An Evildoer Heeds Wicked Lips

An evildoer heeds wicked lips. A liar gives ear to a mischievous tongue.

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What does Proverbs 17:4 mean?

A mind hears the voice it has already agreed with. The one bent on wrong leans toward false speech because that speech confirms the fear it has chosen, and the deceiver listens gladly to spite because spite justifies the attack it wished to make.

From the Christian Psychology reading below.

Proverbs 17:4 through 1 lens

The same verse, read by one tradition.

CHRISTIAN PSYCHOLOGY

Christian Psychology

A mind hears the voice it has already agreed with. The one bent on wrong leans toward false speech because that speech confirms the fear it has chosen, and the deceiver listens gladly to spite because spite justifies the attack it wished to make. Nothing is forced on the mind from outside; it draws to itself the words that echo its own decision.

This is why correction is never a matter of silencing the world's voices but of changing which teacher the mind attends. A mind that turns its ear from fear to love stops hearing accusation everywhere, because it has stopped asking to have its guilt confirmed.

False lips: the ego's voice of fear, welcomed only by a mind already looking to be told it is threatened Naughty tongue: the speech of spite and blame, heard as truth by whoever has chosen to attack

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Christian Psychology lens

Live Proverbs 17:4 today

  1. When you are scrolling alone and something makes your chest tighten, pause and ask which part of you went looking for that. Then close it and let the silence answer instead.
  2. In a group chat, when someone starts tearing into a person who is not there, do not add the line you were about to add. Say something plain and kind, or say nothing, and watch how fast the heat drops.
  3. Under pressure, when an email reads like an attack, read it again assuming the person was tired rather than cruel. Reply to the tired version.

Which voice did I go looking for today, and what was I hoping it would tell me about myself?

The same truth in other traditions

Buddhism · Dhammapada

What we dwell on is what we become. A mind soaked in ill will finds ill will in every sentence it hears.

Stoicism · Epictetus

Nothing outside you has the power to wound you. The sting lives in the judgment you bring to the words, not in the words.

Sufism · Rumi

You are drawn to whatever matches the shape of your own longing. Change what you love and the whole world starts speaking differently.

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