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Proverbs of Solomon
Proverbs › Chapter 16 › Proverbs 16:30

What Does Proverbs 16:30 Mean?

He winks his eye to devise perverse things;He purses his lips and brings about evil.Proverbs 16:30 · NKJV

Quick answer

Malice has body language: the wink and the pursed lips are the facial signals of a scheme in motion, evil coordinated in plain sight.

Read both lines

Both lines pair a tiny gesture with a large outcome. The sages were close observers of faces, and the book has flagged these signals before: the worthless man who winks with his eyes, shuffles his feet, points with his fingers (6:13). Schemes leak through the body before they land, and the discerning learn to notice when a face is speaking a second language. It cuts the other way too: your own face is legible, and the gestures rehearsing in it belong to whatever your heart is devising.

Related: Proverbs 6:12–14 · Proverbs 10:10

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.