Verse Lens · Concise explanation
Proverbs 21:29 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 29. 29A wicked man hardeneth his face: but as for the upright, he directeth his way.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
This verse uses contrastive parallelism to place “A wicked man hardeneth his face” against “as for the upright, he directeth his way”.
Read It With
- Proverbs 21:26–29
The line at Proverbs 21:29 uses contrastive parallelism to place “A wicked man hardeneth his face” against “as for the upright, he directeth his way”. Its place in Proverbs 21:26–29 matters because the edited collection joins it to truthful testimony, honest measures, and integrity, justice, truthful judgment, and protection from exploitation, generosity, neighbor-care, and material responsibility.
Why This Verse Appears Here
This verse uses contrastive parallelism to place “A wicked man hardeneth his face” against “as for the upright, he directeth his way”. This contributes necessary evidence to “Truthful testimony, honest measures, and integrity — He coveteth greedily all the day long: but the righteous...,” where truthful testimony, honest measures, and integrity, justice, truthful judgment, and protection from exploitation, generosity, neighbor-care, and material responsibility are read together without erasing the sentence saying's own force.
Phrase-by-Phrase Explanation
“A wicked man hardeneth his face: but as for the upright, he...”
In plain language: truthful testimony, honest measures, and integrity
This verse uses contrastive parallelism to place “A wicked man hardeneth his face” against “as for the upright, he directeth his way”.
Why it matters: This wording gives the verse its distinct role inside the cluster.
How certain? strongWhat Remains True
Reliable testimony, honest measurement, and integrity protect relationships and public life from manipulation. In Proverbs 21:29, that bounded truth is expressed through “A wicked man hardeneth his face: but as for the upright, he...,” not through a promise detached from its literary form.
How It Can Shape Life
- Keep accurate records, disclose conflicts, verify claims, and correct material errors without favoritism. For Proverbs 21:29, preserve the sequence: verse role (uses contrastive parallelism to place “A wicked man hardeneth his face” against “as for the upright, he directeth his way”) -> contextual meaning in Proverbs 21:26–29 -> proportionate truth -> this accountable response.
Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read Proverbs 21:26–29 — Truthful testimony, honest measures, and integrity — He coveteth greedily all the day long: but the righteous...Sources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? strong
Where care is needed
This sentence saying states a context-shaped moral pattern. Its small-cluster boundary and degree of generality remain reviewable; exceptional outcomes do not make the observation meaningless or turn it into a guarantee.
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact displayed KJV words, canonical order, paragraph flags, supplied-word markup, and complete unit coverage.
Exact location: Proverbs 21:26–29, repository-pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Proverbs
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording and morphology used only for the exact unit's lexical, grammatical, parallel, superscription, number-saying, and acrostic questions.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Prov.xml, OSIS 21:26-21:29
Open source ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible: Proverbs with translators' notes
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2006
Supports: Verse-attached textual, lexical, grammatical, syntactic, parallelism, and older-English controls for the exact range.
Exact location: NET Bible Proverbs PDF, printed pp. 1144-1148, exact tc/tn/sn entries attached to 21:26–29
Open source ↗