Key Verse Spotlight
Proverbs 14:12 - Meaning and Application
Understand how this verse speaks to what you're facing and how to apply it today
Translation: World English Bible — Catholic Edition
" There is a way which seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death. "
Proverbs 14:12
Verse in Context
Understanding the surrounding verses prevents misinterpretation:
10 The heart knows its own bitterness and joy; he will not share these with a stranger.
11 The house of the wicked will be overthrown, but the tent of the upright will flourish.
12 There is a way which seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.
13 Even in laughter the heart may be sorrowful, and mirth may end in heaviness.
14 The unfaithful will be repaid for his own ways; likewise a good man will be rewarded for his ways.
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Create Free AccountBible Guided Commentary
This verse describes the path and end of many people who fool themselves. Their way seems fair to them. They are pleased with the idea that they are doing well, that their beliefs and actions are good, and that these will hold up in the end.
The ways of ignorance and carelessness, worldliness and love of earthly things, and sensual living all seem right to the people who follow them. Even more, the path of hypocrisy in religion, outward acts, partial reform, and blind zeal can seem right to them. They think these things will lead them to heaven. They flatter themselves and tell themselves that all will be well in the end.
But their true end is dreadful, and their mistake makes it worse. These are the ways that lead to death, eternal death. Their sin will surely bring about their ruin, and they will perish holding a lie in their right hand. People who deceive themselves will, in the end, destroy themselves.
From This Chapter
Proverbs 14:1
"Every wise woman builds her house, but the foolish one tears it down with her own hands."
Proverbs 14:2
"He who walks in his uprightness fears the LORD, but he who is perverse in his ways despises him."
Proverbs 14:3
"The fool’s talk brings a rod to his back, but the lips of the wise protect them."
Proverbs 14:4
"Where no oxen are, the crib is clean, but much increase is by the strength of the ox."
Proverbs 14:5
"A truthful witness will not lie, but a false witness pours out lies."
Proverbs 14:6
"A scoffer seeks wisdom, and doesn’t find it, but knowledge comes easily to a discerning person."
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