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Proverbs 3:29

in Proverbs 3

Do not devise evil against your neighbor, for he trustfully dwells beside you.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

Devise not evil against thy neighbor, Seeing he dwelleth securely by thee.

KJV

Devise not evil against thy neighbour, seeing he dwelleth securely by thee.

This verse in Proverbs 3

Commentary

5 notes on this verse
Devise not evil against thy neighbour,.... Or, "plough not evil" (i); turn not up thy heart to find evil against thy neighbour, as the earth is turned up by the plough; see Hos 10:

This site's exposition

Do not withhold good from the deserving

on Proverbs 3:27-30

“Do not withhold good from the deserving when it is within your power to act” turns from inward trust to a neighbor's claim. The excuse “Come back tomorrow and I will provide” is forbidden, delay posing as future kindness when the means are at hand.

This site's exposition

Do not devise evil against your neighbor

Devise translates a verb for plowing, and John Gill pictures the heart turned over like soil to plant harm against a neighbor. Hosea 10:13 uses the same figure of plowing wickedness and reaping injustice. The neighbor lives beside you in trust.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

Cursed be he that smites his neighbour secretly. It is a most base ungrateful thing, if our neighbours have a good opinion of us, that we will do them no harm, and we thence take advantage to cheat and injure them.

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

5 Trust in the L ORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. 6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. We are here taught to live a life of communion with God; and without controversy great is this mystery of godliness, and of great consequence to us, and, as is here shown, will be of unspeakable advantage.

The words behind it

9 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • אַל־may not

    ʾal-H408 →724 times

  • תַּחֲרֹ֣שׁyou devise

    tacharoshH2790 →74 times

  • עַל־on

    ʾal-H5921 →5755 times

  • רֵעֲךָ֣neighbor your

    reakhaH7453 →188 times

  • רָעָ֑הharm

    raahH7451 →662 times

  • וְהֽוּא־and he

    vehu'-H1931 →1879 times

  • יוֹשֵׁ֖ב[is] dwelling

    yoshevH3427 →1079 times

  • לָבֶ֣טַחto security

    lavetachH983 →42 times

  • אִתָּֽךְ׃with you

    ʾitakhH854 →929 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    Psalms 55:20

    My companion attacks his friends; he violates his covenant.

    it leads to

    • Psalms 89:34

      I will not violate My covenant or alter the utterance of My lips.

    • Psalms 7:4

      if I have rewarded my ally with evil, if I have plundered my foe without cause,

    • Acts 12:1

      About that time, King Herod reached out to harm some who belonged to the church.

  • Through

    Psalms 35:20

    For they do not speak peace, but they devise deceitful schemes against those who live quietly in the land.

    it leads to

    • Matthew 26:4

      and they conspired to arrest Jesus covertly and kill Him.

    • Jeremiah 11:19

      For I was like a gentle lamb led to slaughter; I did not know that they had plotted against me: “Let us destroy the tree with its fruit; let us cut him off from…

  • Through

    Proverbs 6:14

    With deceit in his heart he devises evil; he continually sows discord.

    it leads to

    • Romans 16:17

      Now I urge you, brothers, to watch out for those who create divisions and obstacles that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Turn away from them.

    • Micah 2:1

      Woe to those who devise iniquity and plot evil on their beds! At morning’s light they accomplish it because the power is in their hands.

    • Hosea 8:7

      For they sow the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind. There is no standing grain; what sprouts fails to yield flour. Even if it should produce, the foreigners would swallow it up.

Where this verse is studied

About Proverbs

The Judgment of Solomon, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
The Judgment of Solomon, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.