A righteous man hateth lying: but a wicked man is loathsome, and cometh to shame.

PROVERBS 13:5KJV
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Proverbs 13:5 (KJV)

What does Proverbs 13:5 mean?

Proverbs 13:5 contrasts a person who rejects falsehood with a person whose wicked conduct brings disgrace. In the KJV, the verse presents hatred of lying as a mark of a righteous person, while describing the wicked person as loathsome and ashamed.

The proverb speaks in two balanced lines. The first focuses on a person’s attitude toward lying; the second focuses on the person’s standing and the disgrace that follows. The contrast continues the concern with righteous and wicked people seen in verse 4.

The Hebrew behind Proverbs 13:5

  • “lying” — שֶׁקֶר (sheqer): This word often refers to falsehood or deception. Here it appears with a word for a thing or matter, giving the phrase the sense of a false matter, not only a single lie.
  • “loathsome” — בָּאַשׁ (baʾash): This word can describe a bad smell and can also express being offensive. The KJV uses “loathsome” to describe the wicked person as repellent.
  • “shame” — חָפֵר (ḥapher): This word can mean to be ashamed or disgraced. “Cometh to shame” presents disgrace as the result described in the second line.

Why Proverbs 13:5 matters

  • The proverb’s first line includes more than a claim that a righteous person tells the truth. “Hateth lying” describes a strong rejection of falsehood.
  • The second line describes the wicked person, rather than identifying a particular lie. The words “is loathsome, and cometh to shame” give the contrast a wider focus on disgrace.

Where else these words appear

“loathsome” Hebrew H887 · used in 16 verses

  • Genesis 34:30 And Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, Ye have troubled me to make me to stink among the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites: and I being few in number, they shall gather themselves together against me, and slay me; and I shall be destroyed, I and my house.
  • Exodus 16:20 Notwithstanding they hearkened not unto Moses; but some of them left of it until the morning, and it bred worms, and stank: and Moses was wroth with them.
  • 2 Samuel 16:21 And Ahithophel said unto Absalom, Go in unto thy father's concubines, which he hath left to keep the house; and all Israel shall hear that thou art abhorred of thy father: then shall the hands of all that are with thee be strong.

“shame” Hebrew H2659 · used in 17 verses

  • Job 6:20 They were confounded because they had hoped; they came thither, and were ashamed.
  • Psalms 70:2 Let them be ashamed and confounded that seek after my soul: let them be turned backward, and put to confusion, that desire my hurt.
  • Isaiah 24:23 Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the LORD of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously.

“lying” Hebrew H8267 · used in 109 verses

  • Exodus 5:9 Let there more work be laid upon the men, that they may labour therein; and let them not regard vain words.
  • Psalms 144:8 Whose mouth speaketh vanity, and their right hand is a right hand of falsehood.
  • Jeremiah 8:8 How do ye say, We are wise, and the law of the LORD is with us? Lo, certainly in vain made he it; the pen of the scribes is in vain.

“hateth” Hebrew H8130 · used in 139 verses

  • Genesis 24:60 And they blessed Rebekah, and said unto her, Thou art our sister, be thou the mother of thousands of millions, and let thy seed possess the gate of those which hate them.
  • Esther 9:1 Now in the twelfth month, that is, the month Adar, on the thirteenth day of the same, when the king's commandment and his decree drew near to be put in execution, in the day that the enemies of the Jews hoped to have power over them,(though it was turned to the contrary, that the Jews had rule over them that hated them;)
  • Proverbs 1:22 How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge?