He who plots to do evilWill be called a schemer.
The devising of foolishness is sin,And the scoffer is an abomination to men.
Proverbs 24:8–9 · NKJVPart of The Schemer, Proverbs 24:8–9.
Quick answer
Plan harm long enough and it becomes what people call you. The saying is about a reputation hardening around a habit.
Read the whole unit
Read the whole unit
The NKJV footnotes "schemer" as literally master of evil plots, which is a title rather than an insult, and titles in this literature are earned. That is the first verse's whole observation: the name arrives from outside, given by people who watched, and it describes a man by what he is expert at.
The second verse then makes two moves. It locates sin in the devising, before execution, which is unusual for a book normally interested in consequences and visible conduct. And it hands the resulting figure to human judgment rather than divine, since the scoffer is an abomination to men. The book usually reserves that word for what God finds detestable, so aiming it at people is deliberate. A man can plot privately and think the privacy protects him. The saying answers that the plotting is already the offense, and that eventually everyone will have a word for him.
What this verse contributes
the naming. Reputation as an accurate summary of a practice.
The other half
Then it raises the stakes twice: the planning itself is sin before anything is done, and the scoffer ends up detested by the people around him.
Related: Proverbs 6:16–19 · Proverbs 21:24 · Proverbs 12:2 · Proverbs 14:22
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.