Proverbs 26:24

The Message

Your enemy shakes hands and greets you like an old friend, all the while plotting against you. When he speaks warmly to you, don’t believe him for a minute; he’s just waiting for the chance to rip you off. No matter how shrewdly he conceals his malice, eventually his evil will be exposed in public.

Cross References

Proverbs 12:20

Evil scheming distorts the schemer; peace-planning brings joy to the planner.

Proverbs 10:18

Liars secretly hoard hatred; fools openly spread slander.

Proverbs 14:8

The wisdom of the wise keeps life on track; the foolishness of fools lands them in the ditch.

Proverbs 12:17

Truthful witness by a good person clears the air, but liars lay down a smoke screen of deceit.

Proverbs 12:5

The thinking of principled people makes for justice; the plots of degenerates corrupt.

Proverbs 11:1

God hates cheating in the marketplace; he loves it when business is aboveboard.

Genesis 34:13

Jacob’s sons answered Shechem and his father with cunning. Their sister, after all, had been raped. They said, “This is impossible. We could never give our sister to a man who was uncircumcised. Why, we’d be disgraced. The only condition on which we can talk business is if all your men become circumcised like us. Then we will freely exchange daughters in marriage and make ourselves at home among you and become one big, happy family. But if this is not an acceptable condition, we will take our sister and leave.”

1 Samuel 18:17

One day Saul said to David, “Here is Merab, my eldest daughter. I want to give her to you as your wife. Be brave and bold for my sake. Fight God’s battles!” But all the time Saul was thinking, “The Philistines will kill him for me. I won’t have to lift a hand against him.”

2 Samuel 13:26

Then Absalom said, “Well, if you won’t come, at least let my brother Amnon come.” “And why,” said the king, “should he go with you?” But Absalom was so insistent that he gave in and let Amnon and all the rest of the king’s sons go.

Psalm 12:3

Slice their lips off their faces! Pull The braggart tongues from their mouths! I’m tired of hearing, “We can talk anyone into anything! Our lips manage the world.”

Psalm 28:3

Don’t shove me into the same jail cell with those crooks, With those who are full-time employees of evil. They talk a good line of “peace,” then moonlight for the Devil. Pay them back for what they’ve done, for how bad they’ve been. Pay them back for their long hours in the Devil’s workshop; Then cap it with a huge bonus.