What Does Proverbs 12:22 Mean in the King James?
Lying lips are abomination to the LORD: but they that deal truly are his delight.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The verse contrasts lips that lie with people whose trust is steady enough to show itself in what they do.
THE MEANING
Lying lips are an abomination to the LORD; his delight rests on people who make trust visible through steady action. Truth here is more than a claim: it is dependability others can lean on.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that saying something true is enough to make someone trustworthy; the verse weighs truth by what a person does.
THE ROOT
אֱמוּנָה
emunah
GROWS FROM
אמן
The three consonants אמן (ʾ-m-n) carry the sense of firmness and steadiness; אֱמוּנָה (emunah) is trust you can lean your full weight on.
“deal truly” in this verse is emunah. The people described as dealing truly are literally doers of אֱמוּנָה (emunah, trust). The verse sets lying speech against trust put into practice: truth has the steadiness to bear weight.
ALSO GROWS
amen: Truly; affirmed as firm or reliable.
אָמֵן
The shared root links practiced trust with an affirmation that something is firm and dependable.
ne’eman: Faithful, reliable.
נֶאֱמָן
The same rooted quality describes the LORD as dependable, as in Deuteronomy 7:9.
רְצוֹנוֹ
retsono
GROWS FROM
רצה
The root רצה (r-ts-h) means to accept, be pleased with, or show favor.
The LORD’s delight is expressed with a word from the family of acceptance and favor. The verse presents steady trust as something the LORD welcomes.
ALSO GROWS
ratsah: To accept or be pleased with.
רָצָה
This verb shows that delight carries the sense of favorable acceptance.
ratzui: Acceptable, pleasing.
רָצוּי
This related form echoes the verse’s picture of conduct that finds favor with the LORD.
THE PATTERN
Truth becomes trustworthy when speech and action agree, and such integrity is welcomed by God.
He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart.These are the things that ye shall do; Speak ye every man the truth to his neighbour; execute the judgment of truth and peace in your gates:Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another.THE THREAD
Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations;The word translated “faithful” is נֶאֱמָן (ne’eman, faithful or reliable), from אמן (ʾ-m-n, to be firm or steady), the same root that gives אֱמוּנָה (emunah, trust you can lean your full weight on). The trust practiced in Proverbs 12:22 shares its root with the dependability named as God’s own.
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