Evil plans begin in a deceitful heart, but those who counsel peace experience lasting joy.
In Proverbs 12:20, Solomon says, Deceit is in the heart of those who devise evil, but counselors of peace have joy (v. 20). The heart of the matter is once again the heart itself. Evil planning is rooted in inner deceit.
Those who devise evil are not merely mistaken. Deceit lives within them because they have embraced falsehood as a way of seeing and operating. Their intentions are crooked before their actions are visible. Wickedness begins by lying to reality and to oneself.
By contrast, counselors of peace have joy. Peace-making wisdom is not joyless. Those who advise toward reconciliation, truth, and harmony share in the gladness that peace produces, something that Jesus echoes as moral beauty later in the Gospels (to learn more about how pursuing peace reflects Christ’s teaching that peacemakers are blessed, please read our commentary on Matthew 5:9).
Proverbs 12:20
20 Deceit is in the heart of those who devise evil,
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Proverbs 12:20 meaning
In Proverbs 12:20, Solomon says, Deceit is in the heart of those who devise evil, but counselors of peace have joy (v. 20). The heart of the matter is once again the heart itself. Evil planning is rooted in inner deceit.
Those who devise evil are not merely mistaken. Deceit lives within them because they have embraced falsehood as a way of seeing and operating. Their intentions are crooked before their actions are visible. Wickedness begins by lying to reality and to oneself.
By contrast, counselors of peace have joy. Peace-making wisdom is not joyless. Those who advise toward reconciliation, truth, and harmony share in the gladness that peace produces, something that Jesus echoes as moral beauty later in the Gospels (to learn more about how pursuing peace reflects Christ’s teaching that peacemakers are blessed, please read our commentary on Matthew 5:9).