Commentary - Proverbs 12:6

Bird's-eye view

The book of Proverbs is intensely practical, a divine manual for navigating the world as it actually is, not as we might wish it to be. It operates on a central, stark antithesis: the way of wisdom versus the way of folly, the path of the righteous versus the path of the wicked. This verse, Proverbs 12:6, is a perfect distillation of that conflict, and it locates the battlefield squarely in the realm of human speech. Words are not neutral puffs of air; they are weapons or they are remedies. They are traps or they are keys. The wicked man uses his words to set an ambush, to create a situation where another man might be ruined, even to the point of shedding blood. His speech is predatory. In stark contrast, the upright man uses his mouth as an instrument of deliverance. His words rescue, they save, they pull others out of the very traps the wicked have set. This proverb teaches us that speech is never a small thing; it is a matter of life and death.

At its heart, this is a proverb about two fundamentally different orientations to the world. The wicked man sees his neighbor as prey, someone to be exploited for his own gain. The righteous man sees his neighbor as someone to be served and protected. And the primary tool for both the predator and the protector is the mouth. This verse forces us to examine the fruit of our own words. Do our words lay snares, or do they break them? Do they lead to destruction, or do they lead to deliverance? Ultimately, this contrast points us to the one whose mouth brought forth creation and whose words deliver us from the ultimate ambush of sin and death: the Lord Jesus Christ.

Outline

Context In Proverbs

This verse sits within a chapter full of contrasts between the righteous and the wicked, the wise and the foolish. Chapter 12 contrasts their diligence (v. 11, 24, 27), their thoughts (v. 5), their stability (v. 3, 7), their truthfulness (v. 17, 19, 22), and their handling of trouble (v. 13, 21). Proverbs 12:6 fits seamlessly into this pattern by focusing the contrast on the function of their words. Just before this, we are told the thoughts of the righteous are just, while the counsels of the wicked are deceitful (v. 5). Verse 6 then shows us the deadly result of that deceitful counsel. It is not just idle chatter; it is speech with a murderous intent. This theme of the life-and-death power of the tongue is central to the entire book (cf. Prov. 18:21). This proverb is another brushstroke in the grand portrait of the two paths that Solomon is painting for his son.

Key Issues

Words as Traps and Keys

We live in a culture that treats words as if they were disposable, as if they were mere expressions of personal feeling with no objective connection to reality. But Scripture, and Proverbs in particular, will have none of it. Words are architectural. They build up and they tear down. They are substantive. They have weight. This proverb gives us two metaphors for speech. The words of the wicked are an ambush, a hunter's blind. The wicked man is hiding in the thicket of his verbiage, waiting for an unsuspecting victim to walk into the kill zone. Think of the flattering counselor, the slanderer who poisons a reputation behind someone's back, the false witness in court, or the modern bureaucrat whose jargon-filled memo condemns a man to ruin. These are all words that "lie in wait for blood." They are designed to trap and destroy.

But the mouth of the upright is a key. It is an instrument of deliverance. The upright man might be the one who speaks a word of truth in court that exonerates the innocent. He might be the one who confronts the slanderer and exposes the lie. He might be the one who gives wise counsel that helps a friend escape a foolish decision. His words unlock the very trap that the wicked man's words have set. The contrast is not just between harmful words and helpful words. It is a contrast between words that serve the kingdom of darkness, which is a kingdom of death, and words that serve the kingdom of God, which is a kingdom of life.

Verse by Verse Commentary

6a The words of the wicked lie in wait for blood...

Let us not soften this. The Hebrew is direct. The wicked are setting a verbal ambush with lethal intent. This is not about simple rudeness or harsh language. This is about using speech as a weapon to bring about another person's utter ruin. The phrase "lie in wait" (ʾārab) is the word for an ambush, a tactic of warfare and predation. And the object is "blood." This can be literal, as in the case of a false witness whose testimony leads to a judicial execution (think of Naboth in 1 Kings 21). But it also extends to the destruction of a person's livelihood, reputation, or family, which in the ancient world was a form of social death. The wicked man's playbook is filled with slander, gossip, false accusations, and deceptive flattery. He uses words to isolate his victim, to turn others against him, and to maneuver him into a position of vulnerability. Why? Because the heart of the wicked is fundamentally envious, greedy, and hateful. He cannot build, so he seeks to tear down. His words are the verbal equivalent of a concealed pit or a hidden snare.

6b But the mouth of the upright will deliver them.

Here is the glorious antithesis. The righteous man's mouth is the rescue party. The pronoun "them" refers to the intended victims of the wicked. When the wicked spring their verbal trap, the upright man speaks, and the trap is broken. How does this happen? It happens through the courageous application of truth. The upright man might speak a word of warning to the potential victim. He might speak a word of rebuke to the wicked man himself. He might speak a word of clarification to those who have been deceived by the slander. His speech is not passive; it is active and powerful. It is a deliverer. This is because the upright man's words are backed by a heart that loves justice, mercy, and truth. He is not trying to gain an advantage for himself. He is stewarding his words for the good of his neighbor and the glory of God. Where the wicked man's words create chaos and destruction, the upright man's words bring order, clarity, and life.

Application

This proverb should land on us with real weight. It forces us to conduct an audit of our own speech. We must not think that the "wicked" here are only the villains in a movie. The temptation to use words to "lie in wait" is a common one. When we engage in backbiting gossip to make ourselves look better, we are setting a small-scale ambush. When we use subtle insinuation to damage a rival's reputation at work, we are lying in wait. When we flatter our superiors for personal gain, we are laying a snare. These are the seeds of murder, as Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount. We must repent of every instance where our words have been instruments of destruction rather than deliverance.

On the other hand, we are called to cultivate the speech of the upright. This requires courage. It is often easier to remain silent when someone is being slandered. It takes guts to speak up and defend the innocent, to bring clarity to a confused situation, or to offer a gentle rebuke. But this is precisely what righteousness demands. We are to be agents of deliverance, and our mouths are one of the primary tools God has given us for this task. We should pray that God would make us men and women whose words are like a well-timed rescue, bringing life and liberty to those ensnared by the lies of the wicked.

Ultimately, this proverb points us to Christ. He is the ultimate victim of the words of the wicked that lay in wait for blood. The Pharisees, the false witnesses, the shouting mob, all laid a verbal ambush that led to His crucifixion. Their words were the epitome of murderous deceit. But He is also the ultimate Upright One, whose mouth delivers us. Through the foolishness of the preached word, the gospel, He delivers us from the ambush of the devil, the snare of sin, and the penalty of death. His mouth spoke the words, "It is finished," and by that word, He delivered all who trust in Him. He is the great Deliverer, and it is only by His grace that our mouths can cease to be instruments of ambush and begin to be instruments of that same deliverance.