Commentary - Proverbs 6:16-19

Bird's-eye view

This passage in Proverbs provides a concise and potent anatomy of the kind of sin that God finds particularly loathsome. It is not an exhaustive list of every possible sin, but rather a representative catalog of rebellions that strike at the very character of God and the fabric of human community. The structure is a numerical proverb, "six things... even seven," a common Hebrew poetic device used to emphasize the seventh and final item. The list moves from internal attitudes (pride), to sinful actions involving specific body parts (tongue, hands, heart, feet), and culminates in sins that tear apart the covenant community (false witness and sowing discord). What unites them all is their anti-social, destructive nature. These are not private peccadilloes; they are sins that corrupt worship, destroy trust, and dismantle peace. They represent a fundamental opposition to the God who is truth, life, justice, and unity. In short, this is a portrait of a man who is at war with God and, consequently, at war with his neighbor.

The gospel lens reveals this list not as a moralistic ladder to climb for self-improvement, but as a diagnostic tool that drives us to the cross. Every item on this list finds its ultimate expression in the conspiracy against Jesus Christ. The pride of the Pharisees, the lying tongues of false witnesses, the hands of Pilate shedding innocent blood, the wicked thoughts of the Sanhedrin, the feet of Judas hastening to betray, and the strife stirred up among the people, all converged at Calvary. And it is at Calvary where the ultimate remedy is found. Christ became the victim of all these abominations so that we, the perpetrators of them, could be forgiven and transformed. This passage, therefore, serves as a sharp reminder of the ugliness of our sin and the profound beauty of the grace that overcomes it.

Outline

Context In Proverbs

Proverbs 6 is situated within a larger section of the book (chapters 1-9) that consists of a father's extended exhortations to his son. The primary theme is a call to pursue wisdom and avoid folly, often personified as two women, Lady Wisdom and Dame Folly. This specific passage, the "seven abominations," follows a series of warnings against specific manifestations of folly: adultery (Prov 6:20-35), laziness (Prov 6:6-11), and being a worthless, troublemaking man (Prov 6:12-15). The list in verses 16-19 functions as a thematic summary of the character of this "worthless person." It distills the essence of the fool's character into seven traits that God Himself detests. It is a pivot point in the chapter, moving from specific examples of foolishness to the underlying heart attitudes that God finds abominable. This list is not an abstract ethical code but a practical description of the kind of person a wise son must refuse to become.

Key Issues

The Things God Hates

When Scripture says that God "hates" something, we need to be careful not to import our own petty, sinful, and emotional baggage into the concept. Our hatred is often laced with malice, envy, or personal bitterness. God's hatred is not like that. It is the pure, holy, and settled opposition of a perfectly righteous being to that which is corrupt, evil, and destructive. It is the hatred of a master physician for a deadly cancer. It is the hatred of a loving father for the predator that would harm his child. God's hatred is an extension of His love, He loves righteousness, truth, justice, and peace, and therefore He must hate their opposites. An "abomination" is something that is detestable, something that causes revulsion in a holy God. This list, then, gives us a window into the moral character of the universe. These are not arbitrary rules; these are descriptions of actions and attitudes that are fundamentally at odds with the way God made the world to be.

Verse by Verse Commentary

16 There are six things which Yahweh hates, Even seven which are an abomination to Him:

The writer employs a graded numerical saying, a common feature in wisdom literature. This isn't about God being indecisive, starting with six and then remembering a seventh. The structure is designed to build suspense and to place special emphasis on the final item in the list. It tells the reader to pay close attention, as what follows is a matter of ultimate importance. These are not minor infractions or cultural faux pas. These are things that are an abomination to Yahweh, the covenant God of Israel. The term implies something deeply offensive, disgusting, and idolatrous in His sight. This is a list of high-handed sins that pollute the land and the people.

17 Haughty eyes, a lying tongue, And hands that shed innocent blood,

The list begins with the fountainhead of all sin: pride. Haughty eyes are the outward expression of an arrogant heart. It is the look of a man who has made himself his own god, who looks down on others, and who refuses to look up to the true God in dependent submission. Pride is the original sin of Satan, and it is the root from which all other sins on this list grow. From this internal arrogance, the list moves to sins of speech and action. A lying tongue is the natural language of a proud man, for the devil is the father of lies. Truth requires submission to reality as God has defined it; lying is the attempt to create one's own reality. And from proud eyes and a lying tongue, we get hands that shed innocent blood. When a man sees himself as the center of the universe, the lives of others become expendable for his own purposes. Whether through judicial murder, abortion, or outright violence, the shedding of innocent blood is the ultimate expression of contempt for the image of God in another person.

18 A heart that devises wicked thoughts, Feet that hasten to run to evil,

This verse takes us back to the internal source and then to the eager execution of sin. The heart that devises wicked thoughts is the sinner's workshop, the boardroom where evil plans are drafted. The Bible understands the heart not as the seat of emotion, but as the center of the entire inner person, mind, will, and affections. This is not about a fleeting evil thought, but about a heart that is a factory for scheming and plotting evil. It is a heart that marinates in wickedness. What follows is the natural result: feet that hasten to run to evil. This describes an eagerness, a joyful readiness to sin. The man described here does not stumble into evil reluctantly. He sprints toward it. He can't wait to get there. There is an alacrity and a passion in his pursuit of wickedness, which reveals the depth of his corruption. He loves what God hates.

19 A false witness who breathes out lies, And one who spreads strife among brothers.

The sixth item, a false witness who breathes out lies, is a specific and particularly destructive form of the "lying tongue" mentioned earlier. The context is likely judicial. A false witness corrupts the entire system of justice, turning a tool for righteousness into a weapon for destroying the innocent. He doesn't just tell lies; he breathes them out. It is as natural and as constant for him as respiration. This sin was used to murder Naboth for his vineyard and, ultimately, to crucify the Lord Jesus. Finally, we come to the seventh and climactic abomination: one who spreads strife among brothers. This is the culmination of all the previous sins. Pride, lies, and wicked schemes are the tools used to achieve this end. The "brothers" here refers to the covenant community, the people of God. To sow discord in the church or in a family is to do the devil's work with both hands. God is a God of peace and unity; He builds community. The one who tears that community apart with suspicion, gossip, and factionalism is committing an act that God finds utterly detestable. He is undoing the very thing God is doing in the world.

Application

This passage should first and foremost drive us to our knees in repentance. Who among us can say we are entirely free of haughty eyes? Who has never shaded the truth for personal advantage? Whose heart has not been a workshop for sinful fantasies? We are all implicated here. This list is a mirror that shows us our own depravity and our desperate need for a Savior. We should not read this as a checklist for judging our neighbor, but as a diagnostic scan of our own hearts. These seven sins are not just "out there" in the world; they are crouching at the door of our own hearts.

Secondly, this passage must shape the culture of our churches. If God hates these things this much, then so must we. We must cultivate a culture of humility, not pride. We must be a people of the truth, where honesty is prized and lies are confronted. We must be zealous to protect the innocent and the vulnerable. And above all, we must be peacemakers, not strife-spreaders. The unity of the brethren is a precious thing to God, and we must guard it fiercely against the gossip, the slanderer, and the factionalist. The man who comes into a church and starts setting people against one another is doing something God finds abominable, and he should be treated as such.

The ultimate application is to look to Christ. He is the perfect embodiment of the opposite of this list. He had humble eyes, a truthful tongue, and hands that healed, not shed blood. His heart devised only the Father's will, and His feet were swift to do good. He was the true witness, and He came to bring peace between God and man, and man and man. Through His death and resurrection, He not only forgives us for being the people on this list, but He gives us the power of His Spirit to become the opposite of them. He takes proud, lying, murderous, scheming, strife-sowing rebels and transforms us into humble, truthful, life-giving peacemakers, all for His glory.