Lectionary Calendar
Saturday, July 12th, 2025
the Week of Proper 9 / Ordinary 14
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Read the Bible

Young's Literal Translation

Proverbs 21:8

Froward [is] the way of a man who is vile, And the pure -- upright [is] his work.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Character;   Depravity of Man;   Holiness;   Purity;   The Topic Concordance - Frowardness;   Man;   Purity;   Ways;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Character of the Wicked;  

Dictionaries:

- Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Upright, Uprightness;   Charles Buck Theological Dictionary - Pardon;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Proverbs, Book of;   Purity-Purification;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
A guilty one’s conduct is crooked,but the behavior of the innocent is upright.
Hebrew Names Version
The way of the guilty is devious, But the conduct of the innocent is upright.
King James Version
The way of man is froward and strange: but as for the pure, his work is right.
English Standard Version
The way of the guilty is crooked, but the conduct of the pure is upright.
New American Standard Bible
The way of a guilty person is crooked, But as for the pure, his conduct is upright.
New Century Version
Guilty people live dishonest lives, but honest people do right.
Amplified Bible
The way of the guilty is [exceedingly] crooked, But as for the pure, his conduct is upright.
World English Bible
The way of the guilty is devious, But the conduct of the innocent is upright.
Geneva Bible (1587)
The way of some is peruerted and strange: but of the pure man, his worke is right.
Legacy Standard Bible
The way of a guilty man is perverse,But as for the pure, his work is upright.
Berean Standard Bible
The way of a guilty man is crooked, but the conduct of the innocent is upright.
Contemporary English Version
All crooks are liars, but anyone who is innocent will do right.
Complete Jewish Bible
A criminal's conduct is crooked, but the work of the pure is right.
Darby Translation
Very crooked is the way of a guilty man; but as for the pure, his work is upright.
Easy-to-Read Version
Criminals cause trouble wherever they go, but good people are honest and fair.
George Lamsa Translation
He who perverts his own way acts strangely; but he who is pure, his works are right.
Good News Translation
Guilty people walk a crooked path; the innocent do what is right.
Lexham English Bible
Crooked is the way of a man and a foreigner, but the pure is upright in his conduct.
Literal Translation
The way of a guilty man is perverted; but the pure, his way is upright.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
The wayes of the frowarde are straunge, but ye workes of him yt is cleane, are right.
American Standard Version
The way of him that is laden with guilt is exceeding crooked; But as for the pure, his work is right.
Bible in Basic English
Twisted is the way of him who is full of crime; but as for him whose heart is clean, his work is upright.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
The way of man is froward and strange; but as for the pure, his work is right.
King James Version (1611)
The way of man is froward and strange: but as for the pure; his worke is right.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
The way of the vngodly is frowarde and straunge: but of the pure man his worke is right.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
To the froward God sends froward ways; for his works are pure and right.
English Revised Version
The way of him that is laden with guilt is exceeding crooked: but as for the pure, his work is right.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
The weiward weie of a man is alien fro God; but the werk of hym that is cleene, is riytful.
Update Bible Version
The way of him that is laden with guilt is exceeding crooked; But as for the pure, his work is right.
Webster's Bible Translation
The way of man [is] froward and strange: but [as for] the pure, his work [is] right.
New English Translation
The way of the guilty person is devious, but as for the pure, his way is upright.
New King James Version
The way of a guilty man is perverse; [fn] But as for the pure, his work is right.
New Living Translation
The guilty walk a crooked path; the innocent travel a straight road.
New Life Bible
The way of a guilty man is sinful, but the actions of the pure man are right.
New Revised Standard
The way of the guilty is crooked, but the conduct of the pure is right.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Crooked is the way of a guilty man, but, as for the pure, straight is his dealing.
Douay-Rheims Bible
The perverse way of a man is strange: but as for him that is pure, his work is right.
Revised Standard Version
The way of the guilty is crooked, but the conduct of the pure is right.
THE MESSAGE
Mixed motives twist life into tangles; pure motives take you straight down the road.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
The way of a guilty man is crooked, But as for the pure, his conduct is upright.

Contextual Overview

8 Froward [is] the way of a man who is vile, And the pure -- upright [is] his work.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

way: Genesis 6:5, Genesis 6:6, Genesis 6:12, Job 15:14-16, Psalms 14:2, Psalms 14:3, Ecclesiastes 7:29, Ecclesiastes 9:3, 1 Corinthians 3:3, Ephesians 2:2, Ephesians 2:3, Titus 3:3

but: Proverbs 15:26, Proverbs 30:12, Daniel 12:10, Matthew 5:8, Matthew 12:33, Acts 15:9, Titus 1:15, Titus 2:14, Titus 3:5, 1 Peter 1:22, 1 Peter 1:23, 1 John 2:29, 1 John 3:3

Reciprocal: Proverbs 6:14 - Frowardness Proverbs 15:9 - The way Proverbs 20:11 - General Isaiah 55:8 - General

Cross-References

Genesis 19:3
And he presseth on them greatly, and they turn aside unto him, and come in unto his house; and he maketh for them a banquet, and hath baked unleavened things; and they do eat.
Genesis 26:30
And he maketh for them a banquet, and they eat and drink,
Genesis 29:22
and Laban gathereth all the men of the place, and maketh a banquet.
Genesis 40:20
And it cometh to pass, on the third day, Pharaoh's birthday, that he maketh a banquet to all his servants, and lifteth up the head of the chief of the butlers, and the head of the chief of the bakers among his servants,
Judges 14:10
And his father goeth down unto the woman, and Samson maketh there a banquet, for so the young men do;
Judges 14:12
And Samson saith to them, `Let me, I pray you, put forth to you a riddle; if ye certainly declare it to me [in] the seven days of the banquet, and have found [it] out, then I have given to you thirty linen shirts, and thirty changes of garments;
1 Samuel 1:22
And Hannah hath not gone up, for she said to her husband, `Till the youth is weaned -- then I have brought him in, and he hath appeared before the face of Jehovah, and dwelt there -- unto the age.'
1 Samuel 25:36
And Abigail cometh in unto Nabal, and lo, he hath a banquet in his house, like a banquet of the king, and the heart of Nabal [is] glad within him, and he [is] drunk unto excess, and she hath not declared to him anything, less or more, till the light of the morning.
2 Samuel 3:20
and Abner cometh in unto David, to Hebron, and with him twenty men, and David maketh for Abner, and for the men who [are] with him, a banquet.
1 Kings 3:15
And Solomon awaketh, and lo, a dream; and he cometh in to Jerusalem, and standeth before the ark of the covenant of Jehovah, and causeth to ascend burnt-offerings, and maketh peace-offerings. And he maketh a banquet for all his servants,

Gill's Notes on the Bible

The way of man [is] froward and strange,.... Not the way of any and every man; not the way of righteous and good men, of believers in Christ; who know him, the way, and walk in him and after him, and being led by him; who have his spirit to be their guide, and do walk in his ways, and find pleasure in them; the way of such is not froward or perverse, but upright and even, and is not strange, for the Lord knows and approves of it: but the way of wicked and impure men, as may be learned from the opposition in the next clause; the way of unregenerate men, who are gone out of the good way, and turned to their own way, which is according to the course of the world, and after the prince of it, and according to the flesh, and dictates of corrupt nature, which is the common and broad road that leads to destruction. This is a "froward" or perverse way, a way contrary to reason and truth; contrary to the word of God, and the directions of it; it is a crooked distorted path; it is not according to rule; it is a deviation from the way of God's commandment, and is a "strange" one; the Scriptures know nothing of it, and do not point and direct unto it; it estranges a man from God, and carries him further and further off from him. It may be rendered, "perverse [is] the way of a man, even of a stranger" t; of one that is a stranger to God and godliness; to Christ and his Gospel; to the Spirit, and the operations of his grace on the heart; to his own heart, and his state and condition by nature; and to all good men, and all that is good;

but [as for] the pure, his work [is] right. God is pure, purity itself, in comparison of whom nothing is pure; and his work in creation, providence, and grace, is right; there is no unrighteousness in him; and this sense is favoured by the Septuagint and Arabic versions: or rather every good man, who, through the pure righteousness of Christ imputed to him, and through his precious blood being sprinkled on him, or rather through being washed in it, and through the grace of God bestowed on him, is pure, wholly cleansed from sin; has a pure heart, speaks a pure language, and holds the mystery of faith in a pure conscience or conversation: and his work, or the work of God upon him, is right and good; or his work of faith, which he exercises on God, is hearty and genuine: and even his works, as the Targum, Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic versions, have it in the plural number; all his good works are right; being done from love, in faith, in the name and strength of Christ, and to the glory of God.

t וזר "et alieni", Pagninus, Montanus; "et extranei", Vatablus; so Jarchi, Kimchi, and Ben Melech.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Or, “Perverse is the way of a sin burdened man.”


 
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