What Does Proverbs 6:18 Mean in the King James?
An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief,
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 shows harm as a path already under construction in the heart before the feet take it.
THE MEANING
The verse names a living pattern: a heart arranges harm in thought, and the feet hurry to enact it. The inward design and outward motion form one course, joined before anyone else can see it.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that a harmful plan is harmless until it becomes an act: the verse names the heart’s scheme and the feet’s pursuit as parts of the same movement.
THE ROOT
חֹרֵשׁ
ḥōrēš
GROWS FROM
חרשׁ
ḥ-r-sh
To scratch, engrave, or plow; by extension, to devise.
“deviseth” in this verse is ḥōrēš. The verb for devising also carries the image of plowing or cutting a furrow. The heart is not merely having a thought here; it is working a track into which the feet can follow.
ALSO GROWS
ḥāraš: To plow or engrave.
חָרַשׁ
A furrow is a path cut into the ground, echoing the way a harmful design prepares a course of action.
ḥārāš: Craftsman or artisan.
חָרָשׁ
The related word for a worker who shapes material sharpens the image of the heart actively forming its plan.
מַחְשְׁבוֹת
maḥšĕvōṯ
GROWS FROM
חשב
ḥ-sh-b
To think, reckon, or devise.
“imaginations” in this verse is maḥšĕvōṯ. These are not passing impressions; the root also carries the sense of reckoning and calculation. The verse depicts harm as something arranged within before it appears in motion.
ALSO GROWS
maḥăšāvāh: Thought, plan, or design.
מַחֲשָׁבָה
This related noun makes clear that the heart’s devising is an arranged design, not simply an unwelcome thought.
ḥešbōn: Account or reckoning.
חֶשְׁבּוֹן
The sense of counting or reckoning adds the idea of a mind weighing and arranging what it intends.
מְמַהֲרוֹת
mĕmaharōṯ
GROWS FROM
מהר
m-h-r
To hasten or act quickly.
“swift” in this verse is mĕmaharōṯ. The Hebrew says the feet are hastening to run, stacking haste onto motion. The harmful course is not only chosen; it is pursued with urgency.
ALSO GROWS
māhîr: Swift or quick.
מָהִיר
This adjective shares the root’s sense of speed that appears in the feet’s hurried movement.
mĕhērāh: Haste or speedily.
מְהֵרָה
This related form keeps the focus on urgency: the feet move quickly toward the harm already designed.
THE PATTERN
Harm takes shape inwardly and then gains a body through hurried action.
He deviseth mischief upon his bed; he setteth himself in a way that is not good; he abhorreth not evil.For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies:Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.THE THREAD
Frowardness is in his heart, he deviseth mischief continually; he soweth discord.Both verses use the same Hebrew verb for devising, from חרשׁ (ḥ-r-sh), meaning to plow, engrave, or devise. Proverbs 6:14 shows that inward furrowing continuing into discord; verse 18 shows the feet hurrying along the course it makes.
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