What Does Proverbs 17:7 Mean in the King James?
Excellent speech becometh not a fool: much less do lying lips a prince.
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 Hebrew word for “prince” carries the seed of willing generosity, so a lie turns the title itself into a contradiction.
THE MEANING
The verse sets your words beside the character you carry: excellent speech sits badly on a fool, and falsehood cuts deeper when it comes from a prince. The word for “prince” also means a willing, generous one, so deceit conflicts with the nature held inside the title.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that fine words or high status can be separated from character: the verse treats both as hollow when the person beneath them contradicts them.
THE ROOT
נָדִיב
nadiv
GROWS FROM
נדב
nadav
To offer or act willingly; to volunteer freely.
“Prince” here is not only a rank: its root carries the sense of someone willing and open-handed. Lying lips therefore conflict with the generosity implicit in the word.
ALSO GROWS
nadav: To volunteer or offer willingly.
נָדַב
This verb reveals the willing nature beneath the title “prince.”
nedavah: A freewill offering.
נְדָבָה
The same root links nobility with what is given freely, sharpening the mismatch between generosity and deceit.
שְׂפַת יֶתֶר
sefat yeter
GROWS FROM
יתר
yatar
To remain or be left over; by extension, to exceed or be in surplus.
“excellent speech” in this verse is sefat yeter. The phrase carries the sense of a lip of excellence or surplus. The verse is not praising ornament for its own sake: it shows how speech beyond the ordinary measure sits strangely on a fool.
ALSO GROWS
yeter: Surplus, remainder, or excellence.
יֶתֶר
This is the word within the phrase translated “excellent speech,” linking excellence with what exceeds the ordinary measure.
yoter: More or greater.
יוֹתֵר
The same root gives the sense of exceeding, so the speech has an added or abundant quality.
שֶׁקֶר
sheqer
GROWS FROM
שקר
shaqar
To lie, deceive, or be false.
“lying” in this verse is sheqer. English separates the lie from the lips that speak it, but Hebrew keeps both within the same root family. The verse presents falsehood as something the mouth actively carries, not merely a stray error.
ALSO GROWS
sheqer: A lie or falsehood.
שֶׁקֶר
This noun names the false content carried by the lips.
shaqar: To lie or deceive.
שָׁקַר
The verb shows falsehood as an action, tying the content of the words to the speaker’s conduct.
THE PATTERN
A person’s words reveal whether their speech accords with the character they carry.
The mouth of the righteous speaketh wisdom, and his tongue talketh of judgment.O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be.THE THREAD
Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning: thou hast the dew of thy youth.“Willing” comes from the same Hebrew root as “prince” in Proverbs 17:7. Psalm 110:3 makes that root’s sense audible: the title carries the nature of one who offers freely, which is why false lips feel so sharply out of place.
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