Key Verse Spotlight
Proverbs 27:19 - 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
" Like water reflects a face, so a man’s heart reflects the man. "
Proverbs 27:19
Verse in Context
Understanding the surrounding verses prevents misinterpretation:
17 Iron sharpens iron; so a man sharpens his friend’s countenance.
18 Whoever tends the fig tree shall eat its fruit. He who looks after his master shall be honored.
19 Like water reflects a face, so a man’s heart reflects the man.
20 Sheol and Abaddon are never satisfied; and a man’s eyes are never satisfied.
21 The crucible is for silver, and the furnace for gold; but man is refined by his praise.
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This teaches us that there is a way to know ourselves. Water can act like a mirror, showing us our face by reflection. In the same way, there are “mirrors” that reveal a person’s heart to himself. A man should examine his own conscience, his thoughts, his desires, and his aims. He should look at himself in the glass of God’s law (James 1:23). Then he can see what kind of person he really is, and that is a very useful thing to know.
It also shows us how we may learn about others by starting with ourselves. Just as a man’s face and its reflection in water are alike, so one person’s heart is often like another’s, because God has made human hearts in similar ways. In many cases, we can judge others rightly by comparing them with ourselves. That is one reason behind the rule to do to others as we would want them to do to us (Exodus 23:9). One corrupt heart is much like another, and one holy heart is like another too. The first bears the image of the earth, and the second bears the image of heaven.
From This Chapter
Proverbs 27:1
"Don’t boast about tomorrow; for you don’t know what a day may bring."
Proverbs 27:2
"Let another man praise you, and not your own mouth; a stranger, and not your own lips."
Proverbs 27:3
"A stone is heavy, and sand is a burden; but a fool’s provocation is heavier than both."
Proverbs 27:4
"Wrath is cruel, and anger is overwhelming; but who is able to stand before jealousy?"
Proverbs 27:5
"Better is open rebuke than hidden love."
Proverbs 27:6
"The wounds of a friend are faithful, although the kisses of an enemy are profuse."
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