Key Verse Spotlight
Proverbs 27:5 - Meaning and Application
Understand how this verse speaks to what you're facing-and how to apply it today
Translation: King James Version
" Open rebuke is better than secret love. "
Proverbs 27:5
Verse in Context
Understanding the surrounding verses prevents misinterpretation:
A stone is heavy, and the sand weighty; but a fool's wrath is heavier than them both.
Wrath is cruel, and anger is outrageous; but who is able to stand before envy?
Open rebuke is better than secret love.
Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.
The full soul loatheth an honeycomb; but to the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet.
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It is good for us to be corrected and told our faults by our friends. If true love has enough zeal and courage, it will speak plainly to a friend and point out what is wrong in his words or actions. That is better, not only than secret hatred (Leviticus 19:17), but also than a hidden kind of love that never does any good. Such love flatters people in their sins and harms their souls.
Faithful are the corrections of a friend, even if they hurt for the moment like a wound. A real friend will not let us go on in sin, because he cares about our souls. A doctor’s job is to cure the disease, not to please the patient’s taste.
It is dangerous to be praised and flattered by an enemy, whose kisses are fake. We cannot enjoy them because we cannot trust them. Joab’s kiss and Judas Iscariot’s kiss were both deceitful. So we must stay on guard and not be fooled by such things. Some read the verse as a prayer: May the Lord deliver us from an enemy’s kisses, from lying lips, and from a deceitful tongue.
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From This Chapter
Proverbs 27:1
"Boast not thyself of to morrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth."
Proverbs 27:2
"Let another man praise thee, and not thine own mouth; a stranger, and not thine own lips."
Proverbs 27:3
"A stone is heavy, and the sand weighty; but a fool's wrath is heavier than them both."
Proverbs 27:4
"Wrath is cruel, and anger is outrageous; but who is able to stand before envy?"
Proverbs 27:6
"Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful."
Proverbs 27:7
"The full soul loatheth an honeycomb; but to the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet."
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