Proverbs 26:23
People who say nice things when they are thinking about doing evil things are like a nice glaze/covering on a cheap clay pot.
Translation for Translators
In The King James Version
Burning lips and a wicked heart are like a potsherd covered with silver dross.
In Context
Cross References
Proverbs 10:18Those who will not admit that they hate others are liars, and those who slander others are foolish.
Proverbs 25:4If workers burn out the impure bits that are in silver, a man who makes things from silver can make something beautiful from the silver.
Ezekiel 33:31My people come to you as they often have done, and they sit in front of you to listen to what you say. But they do not do what you tell them that they must do. With their mouths they say that they love me, but in their inner beings they are eager to acquire things by doing what is unjust.
Luke 11:39The Lord Jesus said to him, “You Pharisees are concerned about things that are outside your bodies, not with what is in your ◄ inner beings/hearts► [MET]. You wash the outside of cups and dishes before you eat because you think that doing that will make you acceptable to God, but within yourselves you are very greedy and wicked.
Matthew Henry on Proverbs 26:21-23
20 Where no wood is, there the fire goeth out: so where there is no talebearer, the strife ceaseth. 21 As coals are to burning coals, and wood to fire; so is a contentious man to kindle strife. 22 The words of a talebearer are as wounds, and they go down into the innermost parts of the belly. Contention is as a fire; it heats the spirit, burns up all that is good, and puts families and societies into a flame. Now here we are told how that fire is commonly kindled and kept burning, that we may avoid the occasions… Read the whole commentary →