Proverbs 29:12
A leader who freely listens to lying words has only impious servants.
Catholic Public Domain Version
In The King James Version
If a ruler hearken to lies, all his servants are wicked.
In Context
11A foolish one offers everything on his mind. A wise one reserves and defers until later.
13The pauper and the creditor have met one another. The Lord is the illuminator of them both.
Cross References
1 Samuel 18:22And Saul commanded his servants to speak to David privately, saying: “Behold, you are pleasing to the king, and all his servants love you. Now therefore, be the son-in-law of the king.”
1 Samuel 23:19Then the Ziphites ascended to Saul at Gibeah, saying: “Behold, is not David hidden with us in very secure places in the woods on the hill of Hachilah, which is to the right of the desert?
2 Samuel 4:5And so, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, Rechab and Baanah, arrived and entered the house of Ishbosheth, in the heat of the day. And he was sleeping on his bed at midday. And the doorkeeper of the house, who was cleaning the wheat, fell fast asleep.
2 Kings 10:6Then he again wrote letters to them a second time, saying: “If you are mine, and if you obey me, take the heads of the sons of your lord, and come to me at Jezreel at this same hour tomorrow.” Now the sons of the king, being seventy men, were being raised with the nobles of the city.
Psalms 101:5I have been cut down like hay, and my heart has withered, for I had forgotten to eat my bread.
Proverbs 25:23The north wind brings forth the rain, and a sorrowful face brings forth a detracting tongue.
Matthew Henry on Proverbs 29:12
11 A fool uttereth all his mind: but a wise man keepeth it in till afterwards. Note, 1. It is a piece of weakness to be very open: He is a fool who utters all his mind, —who tells every thing he knows, and has in his mouth instantly whatever he has in his thoughts, and can keep no counsel,—who, whatever is started in discourse, quickly shoots his bolt,—who, when he is provoked, will say any thing that comes uppermost, whoever is reflected upon by it,—who, when he is to speak of any business, will say all he… Read the whole commentary →