What Does Proverbs 15:28 Mean in the King James?
The heart of the righteous studieth to answer: but the mouth of the wicked poureth out evil things.
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
A considered answer grows from the heart, while a wicked mouth gushes evil straight into the open.
THE MEANING
The verse shows a heart aligned with what is right turning toward its answer, while the wicked mouth gushes evil things. These are living patterns of speech: one is formed inwardly; the other spills out as overflow.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that a good answer has to come instantly: the verse places considered response beside unrestrained evil overflow.
THE ROOT
יהגה
yehgeh
GROWS FROM
הגה
h-g-h
Murmur, utter softly, or meditate.
English “studieth” suggests inward reflection, but this root also carries the sound of quiet utterance. The heart is already shaping speech before the mouth opens: reflection and speaking are joined in the same movement.
ALSO GROWS
higgaion: Meditation, musing, or reflective sound.
הִגָּיוֹן
This branch holds inward thought and voiced expression together, as the heart turns over an answer before it is spoken.
hagut: Thought, reflection, or meditation.
הָגוּת
This branch keeps the emphasis on thought taking shape within before it reaches the mouth.
יביע
yabbia
GROWS FROM
נבע
n-b-ʿ
Bubble up, gush forth, or flow from a source.
“poureth” in this verse is yabbia. The word pictures more than liquid being poured from a vessel: it carries the force of a spring welling up. The mouth’s evil is an overflow, rising from within and becoming audible without.
ALSO GROWS
mabua: A spring or fountain.
מַבּוּעַ
A spring reveals its source through what wells up from it; the mouth likewise reveals itself through what it gushes out.
novea: Bubbling up or flowing forth.
נוֹבֵעַ
This form makes the verse’s image vivid: harmful speech rises and spills outward like a bubbling source.
צַדִּיק
tsaddiq
GROWS FROM
צדק
ts-d-q
Be right or just; alignment with what is right.
“righteous” in this verse is tsaddiq. The heart belongs to a person described by the language of alignment. The answer it forms is tied to that inner orientation: it is considered in relation to what is right, rather than released as a rush of words.
ALSO GROWS
tsedeq: Rightness, justice, or alignment.
צֶדֶק
This branch shows the quality that characterizes the heart from which a considered answer grows.
tsedaqah: Justice expressed in right action; also almsgiving.
צְדָקָה
This branch carries alignment outward into conduct, echoing how the heart’s orientation shapes the answer that reaches the mouth.
THE PATTERN
Speech reveals its source: a heart that weighs its words answers with care, while what overflows from within can carry harm.
Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer.O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath:THE THREAD
But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.The Hebrew form יֶהְגֶּה (yehgeh), “meditates,” is the same verb in both verses. Psalm 1:2 shows inward turning of the word as a steady source from which Proverbs’ considered answer takes shape.
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