Verse Lens · Expanded explanation
Proverbs 6:17 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 17. 17A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood,
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
This verse contributes the claim, image, or instruction “A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood”.
Six, then seven: the LORD's hatred is aimed at social wreckage
This verse is one part of that explanation in Proverbs 6:16–19. The complete section carries the connected meaning and how it should shape life.
Read It With
- Proverbs 6:16–19
Read Proverbs 6:17 with 6:16–19. Read alone, “A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood” could turn a compressed observation, warning, comparison, or command into a guarantee or complete policy. The full unit establishes: opens with “These six things doth the LORD hate” and develops the line through “yea, seven are an abomination unto him”; by 6:19, it contributes the claim, image, or instruction “A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren”. Together the unit concentrates on speech, listening, truth, and relational consequence, truthful testimony, honest measures, and integrity, violence, predation, conflict, and protection within “Purpose, parental discourses, and the rival invitations of Wisdom and Folly.”
Why This Verse Appears Here
Proverbs 6:16–19 continues “Predatory character communicates harm” by carrying “Seven practices the LORD hates” within the same sustained discourse, admonition, numbered form, or poem. Within that relationship, this verse contributes the claim, image, or instruction “A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood”.
Follow the Context
- Opening (6:16): the unit opens with “These six things doth the LORD hate” and develops the line through “yea, seven are an abomination unto him”.
- Development (6:16–19): adjacent lines test speech, listening, truth, and relational consequence, truthful testimony, honest measures, and integrity, violence, predation, conflict, and protection through parallelism, contrast, motive, image, or consequence.
- Close (6:19): the unit contributes the claim, image, or instruction “A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren”, creating the next supported pause.
What This Verse Is Not Saying
Proverbs 6:17 does not allow “A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood” to become a universal promise, complete policy, diagnosis, insult, or authorization detached from Proverbs 6:16–19. The saying does not require silence about abuse, guarantee that gentle words stop danger, or make a harmed person responsible for another's aggression.
What Remains True
Words can reveal character, transmit truth, inflame conflict, protect others, or cause durable harm. In Proverbs 6:17, that bounded truth is expressed through “A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood,” not through a promise detached from its literary form.
How It Can Shape Life
- Pause, verify, listen, and choose truthful speech fitted to the hearer, timing, risk, and public consequences. Proverbs 6:17 names that responsibility through “A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood,” so the response must remain accountable to the person, action, comparison, or consequence in this line.
Teach It Back
Explain Proverbs 6:17's exact role in Proverbs 6:16–19. Distinguish pattern from guarantee, include “A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands…,” name one uncertainty, and explicitly reject one harmful use.
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Continue in Context
Read the complete section for the connected explanation and how it should shape life. This verse is a doorway into that passage, not a saying that stands alone.
Read Proverbs 6:16–19 — Seven practices the LORD hatesSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? probable
Where care is needed
The verse belongs to a larger speech, instruction, prayer, number saying, or poem; its voice and complete literary movement control how strongly an isolated line may be stated.
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 6:16–19, 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 6:16-6:19
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. 1093-1096, exact tc/tn/sn entries attached to 6:16–19
Open source ↗modern critical commentary
Proverbs
K. T. Aitken
Oxford University Press, in The Oxford Bible Commentary, 2001
Supports: Whole-book and collection orientation, local commentary, social-setting proposals, and named interpretation limits.
Exact location: Aitken, ‘Proverbs,’ Oxford Bible Commentary, printed pp. 405-422, subsection covering 6:16–19 and the Purpose, parental discourses, and the rival invitations of Wisdom and Folly outline
Open source ↗peer reviewed journal article
Wisdom and Folly in the city: exploring urban contexts in the book of Proverbs
Katharine J. Dell
Scottish Journal of Theology 69.4, 2016
Supports: One tested account of urban imagery and continuity across the book without inferring one composition setting.
Exact location: Dell, ‘Wisdom and Folly in the city,’ SJT 69.4 (2016), pp. 389-401, sections on maxims, social indicators, Proverbs 1-9, and conclusion relevant to Proverbs 6:16–19
Open source ↗