New International Version
Proverbs 10:20
20The tongue of the righteous is choice silver, but the heart of the wicked is of little value.
Proverbs 10:20 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)The tongue of the just is as choice silver: the heart of the wicked is little worth.
- English Standard Version (ESV)The tongue of the righteous is choice silver; the heart of the wicked is of little worth.
- New King James Version (NKJV)The tongue of the righteous is choice silver; The heart of the wicked is worth little.
- New Living Translation (NLT)The words of the godly are like sterling silver; the heart of a fool is worthless.
Context of Proverbs 10:20
18Whoever conceals hatred with lying lips and spreads slander is a fool. 19Sin is not ended by multiplying words, but the prudent hold their tongues. The tongue of the righteous is choice silver, but the heart of the wicked is of little value. 21The lips of the righteous nourish many, but fools die for lack of sense. 22The blessing of the Lord brings wealth, without painful toil for it.
Read all of Proverbs 10Proverbs 10:20 word by word
כֶּ֣סֶף נִ֭בְחָר לְשׁ֣וֹן צַדִּ֑יק לֵ֖ב רְשָׁעִ֣ים כִּמְעָֽט׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Proverbs 10:20
- Proverbs 12:18The words of the reckless pierce like swords, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.
- Proverbs 15:4The soothing tongue is a tree of life, but a perverse tongue crushes the spirit.
- Proverbs 16:13Kings take pleasure in honest lips; they value the one who speaks what is right.
- Proverbs 25:11Like apples of gold in settings of silver is a ruling rightly given.
- Matthew 12:35A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him.
- Proverbs 23:7for he is the kind of person who is always thinking about the cost. “Eat and drink,” he says to you, but his heart is not with you.
- Genesis 6:5The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time.
- Genesis 8:21The Lord smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: “Never again will I curse the ground because of humans, even though every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done.
- Jeremiah 17:9The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?
- Matthew 12:34You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.
Commentaries on Proverbs 10:20
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 20The heart of the wicked is little worth - כמעט kimat, is like little or nothing; or is like dross, while the tongue of the just is like silver. A sinner's heart is worth nothing, and is good for nothing; and yet because it is his most hidden part, he vaunts of its honesty, goodness, etc.! Yes, yes; it is very honest and good, only the devil is in it! that is all.Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 20The tongue, the instrument of the mind is contrasted with the heart or mind itself, the just with the wicked, the choice silver with the worthless “little,” the Hebrew word being possibly taken in its primary sense as a “filing” or “scraping” of dross or worthless metal. If the tongue is precious, how much more the mind! If the heart is worthless, how much more the speech!Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 20-21Verses 20-21 The tongue of the just is sincere, freed from the dross of guile and evil design. Pious discourse is spiritual food to the needy. Fools die for want of a heart, so the word is; for want of thought.Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 20Words express what is in the heart.Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 2020. Right speech is the fruit of a good heart, but the wicked show theirs to be useless.Read the comment
Topics related to Proverbs 10:20
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Proverbs 10
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
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