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Wednesday, June 18th, 2025
the Week of Proper 6 / Ordinary 11
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Read the Bible

Easy-to-Read Version

Proverbs 21:6

Wealth that comes from telling lies disappears quickly and leads to death.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Falsehood;   Riches;   Vanity;   Thompson Chain Reference - Business Life;   Dishonesty;   Falsehood;   Gain, Unjust;   Truth-Falsehood;   Unjust Gain;   Vices;   The Topic Concordance - Lying/lies;   Seeking;   Vanity;   Wealth;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Lying;   Riches;   Vanity;  

Dictionaries:

- Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Steal;   Work;   Charles Buck Theological Dictionary - Pardon;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Proverbs, Book of;   Tongue;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Peter, Second Epistle of;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Death;   Get;   Vanity;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Making a fortune through a lying tongueis a vanishing mist, a pursuit of death.
Hebrew Names Version
Getting treasures by a lying tongue Is a fleeting vapor for those who seek death.
King James Version
The getting of treasures by a lying tongue is a vanity tossed to and fro of them that seek death.
English Standard Version
The getting of treasures by a lying tongue is a fleeting vapor and a snare of death.
New American Standard Bible
The acquisition of treasures by a lying tongue Is a fleeting vapor, the pursuit of death.
New Century Version
Wealth that comes from telling lies vanishes like a mist and leads to death.
Amplified Bible
Acquiring treasures by a lying tongue Is a fleeting vapor, the seeking and pursuit of death.
World English Bible
Getting treasures by a lying tongue Is a fleeting vapor for those who seek death.
Geneva Bible (1587)
The gathering of treasures by a deceitfull tongue is vanitie tossed to and fro of them that seeke death.
Legacy Standard Bible
Working for treasures by a lying tongueIs a fleeting breath, by those who pursue death.
Berean Standard Bible
Making a fortune by a lying tongue is a vanishing mist, a deadly pursuit.
Contemporary English Version
Cheating to get rich is a foolish dream and no less than suicide.
Complete Jewish Bible
A fortune gained by a lying tongue is vapor dispersed [by] seekers of death.
Darby Translation
The getting of treasures by a lying tongue is a fleeting breath of them that seek death.
George Lamsa Translation
The getting of treasure by a lying tongue will bring destruction and death to those who seek it.
Good News Translation
The riches you get by dishonesty soon disappear, but not before they lead you into the jaws of death.
Lexham English Bible
He who makes treasure by a lying tongue is a fleeting vapor and seeker of death.
Literal Translation
The getting of treasures by a lying tongue is a vapor driven by those who seek death.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Who so hoordeth vp riches wt ye disceatfulnes of his tonge, he is a foole, & like vnto them that seke their owne death.
American Standard Version
The getting of treasures by a lying tongue Is a vapor driven to and fro by them that seek death.
Bible in Basic English
He who gets stores of wealth by a false tongue, is going after what is only breath, and searching for death.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
The getting of treasures by a lying tongue is a vapour driven to and fro; they [that seek them] seek death.
King James Version (1611)
The getting of treasures by a lying tongue, is a vanitie tossed to and fro of them that seeke death.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
To hoorde vp riches with a deceiptfull tongue, is vanitie tossed to and fro of them that seeke death.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
He that gathers treasures with a lying tongue pursues vanity on to the snares of death.
English Revised Version
The getting of treasures by a lying tongue is a vapour driven to and fro; they that seek them seek death.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
He that gaderith tresours bi the tunge of a leesing, is veyne, and with outen herte; and he schal be hurtlid to the snaris of deth.
Update Bible Version
The getting of treasures by a lying tongue Is a vapor driven to and fro by those that seek death.
Webster's Bible Translation
The getting of treasures by a lying tongue [is] a vanity tossed to and fro by them that seek death.
New English Translation
Making a fortune by a lying tongue is like a vapor driven back and forth; they seek death.
New King James Version
Getting treasures by a lying tongueIs the fleeting fantasy of those who seek death. [fn]
New Living Translation
Wealth created by a lying tongue is a vanishing mist and a deadly trap.
New Life Bible
Getting riches by a lying tongue is like a passing cloud, and leads to death.
New Revised Standard
The getting of treasures by a lying tongue is a fleeting vapor and a snare of death.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
The gaining of treasures with a tongue of falsehood, is a vapour driven away, they who seek them seek death,
Douay-Rheims Bible
He that gathereth treasures by a lying tongue, is vain and foolish, and shall stumble upon the snares of death.
Revised Standard Version
The getting of treasures by a lying tongue is a fleeting vapor and a snare of death.
Young's Literal Translation
The making of treasures by a lying tongue, [Is] a vanity driven away of those seeking death.
THE MESSAGE
Make it to the top by lying and cheating; get paid with smoke and a promotion—to death!
New American Standard Bible (1995)
The acquisition of treasures by a lying tongue Is a fleeting vapor, the pursuit of death.

Contextual Overview

6 Wealth that comes from telling lies disappears quickly and leads to death.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

getting: Proverbs 10:2, Proverbs 13:11, Proverbs 20:14, Proverbs 20:21, Proverbs 22:8, Proverbs 30:8, Jeremiah 17:11, 1 Timothy 6:9, 1 Timothy 6:10, Titus 1:11, 2 Peter 2:3

seek: Proverbs 8:36, Ezekiel 18:31

Reciprocal: Psalms 10:7 - vanity Proverbs 4:7 - with Proverbs 16:8 - great Isaiah 10:14 - And my Micah 6:10 - the treasures Ephesians 4:25 - putting

Cross-References

Genesis 17:17
Abraham bowed his face to the ground to show he respected God. But he laughed and said to himself, "I am 100 years old. I cannot have a son, and Sarah is 90 years old. She cannot have a child."
Genesis 21:12
But God said to Abraham, "Don't worry about the boy and the slave woman. Do what Sarah wants. Your descendants will be those who come through Isaac.
Genesis 21:15
After some time, when all their drinking water was gone, Hagar put her son under a bush.
Genesis 21:21
His mother found a wife for him in Egypt. They continued to live in the Paran desert.
Genesis 21:22
Then Abimelech and Phicol spoke with Abraham. Phicol was the commander of Abimelech's army. They said to Abraham, "God is with you in everything you do.
Genesis 21:27
So Abraham and Abimelech made an agreement. Abraham gave Abimelech some sheep and cattle as proof of the agreement.
Genesis 21:28
Abraham also put seven female lambs in front of Abimelech.
Psalms 113:9
He gives children to the woman whose home is empty. He makes her a happy mother. Praise the Lord !
Psalms 126:2
We will laugh and sing happy songs! Then the other nations will say, "The Lord did a great thing for Zion!"
Isaiah 49:15
But the Lord says, "Can a woman forget her baby? Can she forget the child who came from her body? Even if she can forget her children, I cannot forget you.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

The getting of treasures by a lying tongue,.... By telling lies in trade; by bearing false witness in a court of judicature; or by preaching false doctrines in the church of God:

[is] a vanity tossed to and fro of them that seek death: such treasures, though ever so great, are like any light thing, smoke or vapour, straw, stubble, chaff, or a feather, tossed about the wind; which is expressive of the instability uncertainty of riches ill gotten; they do not last long, but are taken away and carried off by one providence or another; and they are likewise harmful and pernicious; they issue in death: and those that seek after them, and obtain them in a bad way, are said to "seek death": not intentionally, but eventually; this they certainly find, if grace prevent not; see Proverbs 8:36. Jarchi reads it, they are the "snares of death" to him; and so the Septuagint version.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Vanity - Or, “a breath driven to and fro of those that are seeking death.” Another reading of the last words is: “of the snares of death” (compare 1 Timothy 6:9). Some commentators have suggested that the “vapor” or “mist” is the mirage of the desert, misleading those who follow it, and becoming a “net of death.”

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Proverbs 21:6. Of them that seek death — Instead of מבקשי mebakshey, "them that seek," several MSS., some ancient editions, with Symmachus, the Septuagint, Vulgate, and Arabic, have מקשי mokeshey, the snares. He who gets treasures by a lying tongue, pursues vanity into the snares of death. Our common translation may be as good. But he who, by the snares of his tongue, endeavours to buy and sell to the best advantage, is pursuing what is empty in itself; and he is ensnared by death, while he is attempting to ensnare others.


 
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