What Does Proverbs 10:18 Mean?
He who covers hatred with lying lips, and he who brings out slander, is a fool.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
He that hideth hatred with lying lips, and he that uttereth a slander, is a fool.THE KEY
Hebrew sets hiding hatred beside bringing slander out, showing two directions for the same hostility: covered over or carried into speech.
THE MEANING
Hatred can remain beneath a false surface, while slander carries it outward in words. The verse calls both moves foolish: disguising hostility does not dissolve it, and voicing an accusation does not make it true.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the belief that hatred becomes harmless when hidden behind polished speech.
THE ROOT
מְכַסֶּה
mekhasseh
GROWS FROM
כסה
כסה (kasah): to cover or conceal.
“covers” in this verse is mekhasseh. The verse’s first verb is the act of covering: hatred stays beneath the lips’ false surface. Concealment does not remove the hatred; it places a layer over it.
ALSO GROWS
mekhusseh: covered
מְכֻסֶּה
This form uses the same root consonants to describe what lies beneath a covering: hatred remains there, though hidden.
mikhseh: a cover or covering
מִכְסֶה
The related noun makes the covering concrete: lying lips serve as a cover over hostility.
שָׂקֶר
saqer
GROWS FROM
שקר
שקר (sh-q-r): to lie or deal falsely; falsehood.
The same consonants name falsehood as a thing and lying as an act. The lips do not merely carry hostility; they give it a false surface.
ALSO GROWS
sheqer: falsehood
שֶׁקֶר
This noun shows that the lie is itself a thing covering the hatred.
shaqar: to lie or deal falsely
שָׁקַר
This verb connects the false words to the act of producing falsehood.
sheqarim: lies or falsehoods
שְׁקָרִים
The plural keeps the same root consonants, showing falsehood as repeated speech.
THE PATTERN
Speech can cover hostility with a false surface or carry what is within outward into words.
The words of his mouth are smoother than butter, but war is in his heart. His words are softer than oil, yet they are opened swords.A good human brings out good from the good treasure of the heart, and an evil human brings out evil from the evil treasure of the heart, for from the overflow of the heart his mouth speaks.THE THREAD
Hatred is covered with deceit; his harm is uncovered at the appointed time in the assembly.The Hebrew word translated “covered” here shares the root כסה with “hideth” in Proverbs 10:18. This verse follows the covering through to its exposure: the hidden thing is shown before the whole congregation.
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