Burning lips and a wicked heart are like a potsherd covered with silver dross.

PROVERBS 26:23KJV
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Proverbs 26:23 (KJV)

What does Proverbs 26:23 mean?

Proverbs 26:23 compares someone with “burning lips and a wicked heart” to a broken piece of pottery covered with cheap silver dross, warning that flashy or passionate words can hide a corrupt inner character. The verse highlights the danger of people whose outward speech disguises their true, harmful intentions.

In the book of Proverbs, these sayings are collected as wisdom for everyday life, likely spoken by a teacher or parent to a listener seeking guidance. The image of a potsherd (a broken clay shard) covered with silver dross (impure, low-quality silver) would have been familiar in ancient times, showing how something worthless can be made to look valuable on the outside but remains flawed beneath.

The Hebrew behind Proverbs 26:23

  • “Burning” (חֵמָה, chemah) often refers to heat or intense emotion, suggesting speech that is heated, passionate, or even angry, not just ordinary talk.
  • “Potsherd” (חֶרֶשׂ, cheres) means a broken piece of pottery, something discarded and of little value, which deepens the contrast with the appearance of silver.
  • “Silver dross” (סִיגִים, sigim) refers to the waste left after refining silver, not pure silver itself. Covering a potsherd with dross makes it look shiny but does not make it valuable, emphasizing the idea of a deceptive appearance.

Why Proverbs 26:23 matters

  • Proverbs 26:23 warns against being fooled by impressive or emotional speech, reminding readers that words can cover up a harmful heart.
  • The verse fits into a larger section of Proverbs that deals with hypocrisy and deceit, helping the reader spot people who are not what they seem.
  • Understanding the imagery of worthless pottery and impure silver helps modern readers grasp how ancient listeners would have recognized the warning about false appearances.

Where else these words appear

“dross” Hebrew H5509 · used in 7 verses

  • Psalms 119:119 Thou puttest away all the wicked of the earth like dross: therefore I love thy testimonies.
  • Isaiah 1:22 Thy silver is become dross, thy wine mixed with water:
  • Ezekiel 22:18 Son of man, the house of Israel is to me become dross: all they are brass, and tin, and iron, and lead, in the midst of the furnace; they are even the dross of silver.

“Burning” Hebrew H1814 · used in 9 verses

  • Genesis 31:36 And Jacob was wroth, and chode with Laban: and Jacob answered and said to Laban, What is my trespass? what is my sin, that thou hast so hotly pursued after me?
  • Psalms 7:13 He hath also prepared for him the instruments of death; he ordaineth his arrows against the persecutors.
  • Lamentations 4:19 Our persecutors are swifter than the eagles of the heaven: they pursued us upon the mountains, they laid wait for us in the wilderness.

“potsherd” Hebrew H2789 · used in 16 verses

  • Leviticus 6:28 But the earthen vessel wherein it is sodden shall be broken: and if it be sodden in a brasen pot, it shall be both scoured, and rinsed in water.
  • Numbers 5:17 And the priest shall take holy water in an earthen vessel; and of the dust that is in the floor of the tabernacle the priest shall take, and put it into the water:
  • Isaiah 45:9 Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker! Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth. Shall the clay say to him that fashioneth it, What makest thou? or thy work, He hath no hands?

“covered” Hebrew H6823 · used in 39 verses

  • Exodus 25:11 And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, within and without shalt thou overlay it, and shalt make upon it a crown of gold round about.
  • Exodus 36:36 And he made thereunto four pillars of shittim wood, and overlaid them with gold: their hooks were of gold; and he cast for them four sockets of silver.
  • 1 Kings 6:21 So Solomon overlaid the house within with pure gold: and he made a partition by the chains of gold before the oracle; and he overlaid it with gold.