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Read the Bible

THE MESSAGE

Proverbs 13:15

Sound thinking makes for gracious living, but liars walk a rough road.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Sin;   Wisdom;   Thompson Chain Reference - Comfort-Misery;   Evil;   Misery;   Pathway of Sin;   Sin;   Sin's;   Sinners;   Understanding;   Way;   Wicked, the;   Wisdom-Folly;   The Topic Concordance - Transgression;   Understanding;  

Dictionaries:

- Charles Buck Theological Dictionary - Pardon;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Proverbs, Book of;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Fool;   Hard;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Life;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Good sense wins favor,but the way of the treacherous never changes.
Hebrew Names Version
Good understanding wins favor; But the way of the unfaithful is hard.
King James Version
Good understanding giveth favour: but the way of transgressors is hard.
English Standard Version
Good sense wins favor, but the way of the treacherous is their ruin.
New American Standard Bible
Good understanding produces favor, But the way of the treacherous is their own disaster.
New Century Version
People with good understanding will be well liked, but the lives of those who are not trustworthy are hard.
New English Translation
Keen insight wins favor, but the conduct of the unfaithful is harsh.
Amplified Bible
Good understanding wins favor [from others], But the way of the unfaithful is hard [like barren, dry soil].
World English Bible
Good understanding wins favor; But the way of the unfaithful is hard.
Geneva Bible (1587)
Good vnderstanding maketh acceptable: but the way of the disobedient is hated.
Legacy Standard Bible
Good insight gives grace,But the way of the treacherous is unrelenting.
Berean Standard Bible
Good understanding wins favor, but the way of the faithless is difficult.
Contemporary English Version
Sound judgment is praised, but people without good sense are on the way to disaster.
Complete Jewish Bible
Good common sense produces grace, but the way of the treacherous is rough.
Darby Translation
Good understanding procureth favour; but the way of the treacherous is hard.
Easy-to-Read Version
People like a person with good sense, but life is hard for someone who cannot be trusted.
George Lamsa Translation
Good understanding brings mercy; but the way of transgressors leads to destruction.
Good News Translation
Intelligence wins respect, but those who can't be trusted are on the road to ruin.
Lexham English Bible
Good sense grants favor, but the way of the faithless is coarse.
Literal Translation
Good sense gives grace, but the way of traitors is ever flowing.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Good vnderstondinge geueth fauoure, but harde is the waye of the despysers.
American Standard Version
Good understanding giveth favor; But the way of the transgressor is hard.
Bible in Basic English
Wise behaviour gets approval, but the way of the false is their destruction.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
Good understanding giveth grace; but the way of the faithless is harsh.
King James Version (1611)
Good vnderstanding giueth fauour: but the way of transgressours is hard.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
Good vnderstandyng geueth fauour: but harde is the way of the dispisers.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
Sound discretion gives favour, and to know the law is the part of a sound understanding: but the ways of scorners tend to destruction.
English Revised Version
Good understanding giveth favour: but the way of the treacherous is rugged.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Good teching schal yyue grace; a swolowe is in the weie of dispiseris.
Update Bible Version
Good understanding gives favor; But the way of the transgressor is hard.
Webster's Bible Translation
Good understanding giveth favor: but the way of transgressors [is] hard.
New King James Version
Good understanding gains favor, But the way of the unfaithful is hard.
New Living Translation
A person with good sense is respected; a treacherous person is headed for destruction.
New Life Bible
Good understanding wins favor, but the way of the sinful is hard.
New Revised Standard
Good sense wins favor, but the way of the faithless is their ruin.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Sound discretion, yieldeth favour, but, the way of the treacherous, is rugged.
Douay-Rheims Bible
Good instruction shall give grace: in the way of scorners is a deep pit.
Revised Standard Version
Good sense wins favor, but the way of the faithless is their ruin.
Young's Literal Translation
Good understanding giveth grace, And the way of the treacherous [is] hard.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
Good understanding produces favor, But the way of the treacherous is hard.

Contextual Overview

15 Sound thinking makes for gracious living, but liars walk a rough road.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Good: Proverbs 3:4, Proverbs 14:35, 1 Samuel 18:14-16, Luke 2:52, Acts 7:10

but: Proverbs 4:19, Proverbs 15:10, Psalms 95:9-11, Jeremiah 2:19, Romans 6:21

Reciprocal: Psalms 1:1 - way Proverbs 14:9 - among Proverbs 16:20 - handleth Proverbs 22:5 - Thorns Isaiah 21:2 - grievous Acts 26:14 - hard

Cross-References

Genesis 12:7
God appeared to Abram and said, "I will give this land to your children." Abram built an altar at the place God had appeared to him.
Genesis 13:1
So Abram left Egypt and went back to the Negev, he and his wife and everything he owned, and Lot still with him. By now Abram was very rich, loaded with cattle and silver and gold.
Genesis 13:3
He moved on from the Negev, camping along the way, to Bethel, the place he had first set up his tent between Bethel and Ai and built his first altar. Abram prayed there to God .
Genesis 13:8
Abram said to Lot, "Let's not have fighting between us, between your shepherds and my shepherds. After all, we're family. Look around. Isn't there plenty of land out there? Let's separate. If you go left, I'll go right; if you go right, I'll go left."
Genesis 13:12
So Abram left Egypt and went back to the Negev, he and his wife and everything he owned, and Lot still with him. By now Abram was very rich, loaded with cattle and silver and gold. He moved on from the Negev, camping along the way, to Bethel, the place he had first set up his tent between Bethel and Ai and built his first altar. Abram prayed there to God . Lot, who was traveling with Abram, was also rich in sheep and cattle and tents. But the land couldn't support both of them; they had too many possessions. They couldn't both live there—quarrels broke out between Abram's shepherds and Lot's shepherds. The Canaanites and Perizzites were also living on the land at the time. Abram said to Lot, "Let's not have fighting between us, between your shepherds and my shepherds. After all, we're family. Look around. Isn't there plenty of land out there? Let's separate. If you go left, I'll go right; if you go right, I'll go left." Lot looked. He saw the whole plain of the Jordan spread out, well watered (this was before God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah), like God 's garden, like Egypt, and stretching all the way to Zoar. Lot took the whole plain of the Jordan. Lot set out to the east. That's how they came to part company, uncle and nephew. Abram settled in Canaan; Lot settled in the cities of the plain and pitched his tent near Sodom.
Genesis 28:13
Then God was right before him, saying, "I am God , the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac. I'm giving the ground on which you are sleeping to you and to your descendants. Your descendants will be as the dust of the Earth; they'll stretch from west to east and from north to south. All the families of the Earth will bless themselves in you and your descendants. Yes. I'll stay with you, I'll protect you wherever you go, and I'll bring you back to this very ground. I'll stick with you until I've done everything I promised you."
Exodus 33:1
God said to Moses: "Now go. Get on your way from here, you and the people you brought up from the land of Egypt. Head for the land which I promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying ‘I will give it to your descendants.' I will send an angel ahead of you and I'll drive out the Canaanites, Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. It's a land flowing with milk and honey. But I won't be with you in person—you're such a stubborn, hard-headed people!—lest I destroy you on the journey."
Deuteronomy 34:4
Then and there God said to him, "This is the land I promised to your ancestors, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob with the words ‘I will give it to your descendants.' I've let you see it with your own eyes. There it is. But you're not going to go in."
Psalms 37:29
class="psalm-title"> A David Psalm Don't bother your head with braggarts or wish you could succeed like the wicked. In no time they'll shrivel like grass clippings and wilt like cut flowers in the sun. Get insurance with God and do a good deed, settle down and stick to your last. Keep company with God , get in on the best. Open up before God , keep nothing back; he'll do whatever needs to be done: He'll validate your life in the clear light of day and stamp you with approval at high noon. Quiet down before God , be prayerful before him. Don't bother with those who climb the ladder, who elbow their way to the top. Bridle your anger, trash your wrath, cool your pipes—it only makes things worse. Before long the crooks will be bankrupt; God -investors will soon own the store. Before you know it, the wicked will have had it; you'll stare at his once famous place and—nothing! Down-to-earth people will move in and take over, relishing a huge bonanza. Bad guys have it in for the good guys, obsessed with doing them in. But God isn't losing any sleep; to him they're a joke with no punch line. Bullies brandish their swords, pull back on their bows with a flourish. They're out to beat up on the harmless, or mug that nice man out walking his dog. A banana peel lands them flat on their faces— slapstick figures in a moral circus. Less is more and more is less. One righteous will outclass fifty wicked, For the wicked are moral weaklings but the righteous are God -strong. God keeps track of the decent folk; what they do won't soon be forgotten. In hard times, they'll hold their heads high; when the shelves are bare, they'll be full. God-despisers have had it; God 's enemies are finished— Stripped bare like vineyards at harvest time, vanished like smoke in thin air. Wicked borrows and never returns; Righteous gives and gives. Generous gets it all in the end; Stingy is cut off at the pass. Stalwart walks in step with God ; his path blazed by God , he's happy. If he stumbles, he's not down for long; God has a grip on his hand. I once was young, now I'm a graybeard— not once have I seen an abandoned believer, or his kids out roaming the streets. Every day he's out giving and lending, his children making him proud. Turn your back on evil, work for the good and don't quit. God loves this kind of thing, never turns away from his friends. Live this way and you've got it made, but bad eggs will be tossed out. The good get planted on good land and put down healthy roots.
Isaiah 63:18
Who Goes There? The watchmen call out, "Who goes there, marching out of Edom, out of Bozrah in clothes dyed red? Name yourself, so splendidly dressed, advancing, bristling with power!" "It is I: I speak what is right, I, mighty to save!" "And why are your robes so red, your clothes dyed red like those who tread grapes?" "I've been treading the winepress alone. No one was there to help me. Angrily, I stomped the grapes; raging, I trampled the people. Their blood spurted all over me— all my clothes were soaked with blood. I was set on vengeance. The time for redemption had arrived. I looked around for someone to help —no one. I couldn't believe it —not one volunteer. So I went ahead and did it myself, fed and fueled by my rage. I trampled the people in my anger, crushed them under foot in my wrath, soaked the earth with their lifeblood." I'll make a list of God 's gracious dealings, all the things God has done that need praising, All the generous bounties of God , his great goodness to the family of Israel— Compassion lavished, love extravagant. He said, "Without question these are my people, children who would never betray me." So he became their Savior. In all their troubles, he was troubled, too. He didn't send someone else to help them. He did it himself, in person. Out of his own love and pity he redeemed them. He rescued them and carried them along for a long, long time. But they turned on him; they grieved his Holy Spirit. So he turned on them, became their enemy and fought them. Then they remembered the old days, the days of Moses, God's servant: "Where is he who brought the shepherds of his flock up and out of the sea? And what happened to the One who set his Holy Spirit within them? Who linked his arm with Moses' right arm, divided the waters before them, Making him famous ever after, and led them through the muddy abyss as surefooted as horses on hard, level ground? Like a herd of cattle led to pasture, the Spirit of God gave them rest." That's how you led your people! That's how you became so famous! Look down from heaven, look at us! Look out the window of your holy and magnificent house! Whatever happened to your passion, your famous mighty acts, Your heartfelt pity, your compassion? Why are you holding back? You are our Father. Abraham and Israel are long dead. They wouldn't know us from Adam. But you're our living Father, our Redeemer, famous from eternity! Why, God , did you make us wander from your ways? Why did you make us cold and stubborn so that we no longer worshiped you in awe? Turn back for the sake of your servants. You own us! We belong to you! For a while your holy people had it good, but now our enemies have wrecked your holy place. For a long time now, you've paid no attention to us. It's like you never knew us.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Good understanding giveth favour,.... A good understanding in things natural and civil gives favour among men; and so a good understanding in divine and spiritual things gives a man favour among religious people, makes him taken notice of by them, and acceptable to them: and such an understanding no man has, unless it be given him; and such appear to have one that do the commandments of God, Psalms 111:10. The Israelites, for having and keeping the statutes of the Lord, were accounted by others a wise and an understanding people; and Christ, as man, when he increased in wisdom, grew in favour with God and men. It may be rendered, "good doctrine", as the Vulgate Latin version, or "right doctrine", as the Arabic version, "gives grace" o; is the means of conveying grace into the hearts of men, and of increasing it. What if it should be rendered, "grace gives a good understanding" p? since it is certain, that an understanding to know God and Christ is a gift of grace, 1 John 5:20;

but the way of transgressors [is] hard; ungrateful and unpleasant to themselves and others; it is a rough and rugged way, in which they stumble and fall; and cannot walk with pleasure themselves, when their consciences are awakened, and they are loaded with guilt, and filled with terror; and must be very disagreeable to those who have seen the evil of them.

o חן "gratiam", Pagninus, Montanus. Vatablus. Mercerus. Drusius, Michaelis, Schultens. p "Successum bonum dat gratia", Junius & Tremellius.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Hard - The primary meaning of the original word is permanence (compare Deuteronomy 21:4; Micah 6:2). This may be applied as here to the hard dry rock, to running streams, or to stagnant pools. In either case, the idea is that of the barren dry soil, or the impassable marsh, in contrast with the fountain of life, carrying joy and refreshment with it.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Proverbs 13:15. The way of transgressors is hard. — Never was a truer saying; most sinners have more pain and difficulty to get their souls damned, than the righteous have, with all their cross-bearings, to get to the kingdom of heaven.


 
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