Proverbs 17:4
An evil doer is attentive to lips of vanity, Falsehood is giving ear to a mischievous tongue.
Young's Literal Translation
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] Jehovah.
Cross References
1 Samuel 22:7And Saul saith to his servants who are standing by him, 'Hear, I pray you, ye Benjamites; also to all of you doth the son of Jesse give fields and vineyards! all of you he doth appoint 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 at its latter end?
1 John 4:5They — of the world they are; because of this from the world they speak, and the world doth hear 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 →