Proverbs 17:4
An evildoer is attentive to lips of vanity, || Falsehood is giving ear to a mischievous tongue.
Literal Standard Version
In The King James Version
A wicked doer giveth heed to false lips; and a liar giveth ear to a naughty tongue.
In Context
3A refining pot [is] for silver, and a furnace for gold, || And the trier of hearts [is] YHWH.
Cross References
1 Samuel 22:7And Saul says to his servants who are standing by him, “Now hear, sons of Benjamin; does the son of Jesse also give fields and vineyards to all of you? Does he appoint all of you [to be] heads of thousands and heads of hundreds?
Proverbs 28:4Those forsaking the Law praise the wicked, || Those keeping the Law plead against them.
Jeremiah 5:31The prophets have prophesied falsely, || And the priests bear rule by their means, || And My people have loved [it] so, || And what do they do at its latter end?”
1 John 4:5They are of the world, because they speak of this from the world, and the world hears them;
Matthew Henry on Proverbs 17:4
3 The fining pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold: but the Lord trieth the hearts. Note, 1. The hearts of the children of men are subject, not only to God's view, but to his judgment: As the fining-pot is for silver, both to prove it and to improve it so the Lord tries the hearts; he searches whether they are standard or no, and those that are he refines and makes purer, Jer. xvii. 10 . God tries the heart by affliction ( Ps. lxvi. 10, 11 ), and often chooses his people in that furnace ( Isa. xlviii. 10 )… Read the whole commentary →