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Proverbs of Solomon
Proverbs › Chapter 11 › Proverbs 11:6

What Does Proverbs 11:6 Mean?

The righteousness of the upright will deliver them,But the unfaithful will be caught by their lust.Proverbs 11:6 · NKJV

Quick answer

The same contrast again, sharpened. One life is delivered; the other is caught, and what catches it is its own appetite.

Read both lines

This verse repeats verse 5's structure and swaps the second-line image from falling to being trapped, which is a small change with a real effect. A fall is over quickly. A snare holds. The word behind "lust" is broader than the English suggests, closer to craving or ruinous desire, and the verse makes it the mechanism of capture rather than an outside enemy. Read alongside verse 5, the pair says the same thing twice on purpose: what undoes a person in this book is usually not an ambush but an appetite.

Related: Proverbs 11:5 · Proverbs 5:22 · James 1:14–15

New King James Version®, Copyright © 1982, Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved. Full copyright information. Scripture provided by API.Bible.

Go Deeper

If this verse has been used to put weight on you that it was never carrying, ask about it directly.