Lectionary Calendar
Thursday, May 1st, 2025
the Second Week after Easter
Attention!
Tired of seeing ads while studying? Now you can enjoy an "Ads Free" version of the site for as little as 10¢ a day and support a great cause!
Click here to learn more!

Read the Bible

King James Version

Proverbs 21:8

The way of man is froward and strange: but as for the pure, his work is right.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Character;   Depravity of Man;   Holiness;   Purity;   The Topic Concordance - Frowardness;   Man;   Purity;   Ways;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Character of the Wicked;  

Dictionaries:

- Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Upright, Uprightness;   Charles Buck Theological Dictionary - Pardon;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Proverbs, Book of;   Purity-Purification;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
A guilty one’s conduct is crooked,but the behavior of the innocent is upright.
Hebrew Names Version
The way of the guilty is devious, But the conduct of the innocent is upright.
English Standard Version
The way of the guilty is crooked, but the conduct of the pure is upright.
New American Standard Bible
The way of a guilty person is crooked, But as for the pure, his conduct is upright.
New Century Version
Guilty people live dishonest lives, but honest people do right.
Amplified Bible
The way of the guilty is [exceedingly] crooked, But as for the pure, his conduct is upright.
World English Bible
The way of the guilty is devious, But the conduct of the innocent is upright.
Geneva Bible (1587)
The way of some is peruerted and strange: but of the pure man, his worke is right.
Legacy Standard Bible
The way of a guilty man is perverse,But as for the pure, his work is upright.
Berean Standard Bible
The way of a guilty man is crooked, but the conduct of the innocent is upright.
Contemporary English Version
All crooks are liars, but anyone who is innocent will do right.
Complete Jewish Bible
A criminal's conduct is crooked, but the work of the pure is right.
Darby Translation
Very crooked is the way of a guilty man; but as for the pure, his work is upright.
Easy-to-Read Version
Criminals cause trouble wherever they go, but good people are honest and fair.
George Lamsa Translation
He who perverts his own way acts strangely; but he who is pure, his works are right.
Good News Translation
Guilty people walk a crooked path; the innocent do what is right.
Lexham English Bible
Crooked is the way of a man and a foreigner, but the pure is upright in his conduct.
Literal Translation
The way of a guilty man is perverted; but the pure, his way is upright.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
The wayes of the frowarde are straunge, but ye workes of him yt is cleane, are right.
American Standard Version
The way of him that is laden with guilt is exceeding crooked; But as for the pure, his work is right.
Bible in Basic English
Twisted is the way of him who is full of crime; but as for him whose heart is clean, his work is upright.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
The way of man is froward and strange; but as for the pure, his work is right.
King James Version (1611)
The way of man is froward and strange: but as for the pure; his worke is right.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
The way of the vngodly is frowarde and straunge: but of the pure man his worke is right.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
To the froward God sends froward ways; for his works are pure and right.
English Revised Version
The way of him that is laden with guilt is exceeding crooked: but as for the pure, his work is right.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
The weiward weie of a man is alien fro God; but the werk of hym that is cleene, is riytful.
Update Bible Version
The way of him that is laden with guilt is exceeding crooked; But as for the pure, his work is right.
Webster's Bible Translation
The way of man [is] froward and strange: but [as for] the pure, his work [is] right.
New English Translation
The way of the guilty person is devious, but as for the pure, his way is upright.
New King James Version
The way of a guilty man is perverse; [fn] But as for the pure, his work is right.
New Living Translation
The guilty walk a crooked path; the innocent travel a straight road.
New Life Bible
The way of a guilty man is sinful, but the actions of the pure man are right.
New Revised Standard
The way of the guilty is crooked, but the conduct of the pure is right.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Crooked is the way of a guilty man, but, as for the pure, straight is his dealing.
Douay-Rheims Bible
The perverse way of a man is strange: but as for him that is pure, his work is right.
Revised Standard Version
The way of the guilty is crooked, but the conduct of the pure is right.
Young's Literal Translation
Froward [is] the way of a man who is vile, And the pure -- upright [is] his work.
THE MESSAGE
Mixed motives twist life into tangles; pure motives take you straight down the road.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
The way of a guilty man is crooked, But as for the pure, his conduct is upright.

Contextual Overview

8 The way of man is froward and strange: but as for the pure, his work is right.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

way: Genesis 6:5, Genesis 6:6, Genesis 6:12, Job 15:14-16, Psalms 14:2, Psalms 14:3, Ecclesiastes 7:29, Ecclesiastes 9:3, 1 Corinthians 3:3, Ephesians 2:2, Ephesians 2:3, Titus 3:3

but: Proverbs 15:26, Proverbs 30:12, Daniel 12:10, Matthew 5:8, Matthew 12:33, Acts 15:9, Titus 1:15, Titus 2:14, Titus 3:5, 1 Peter 1:22, 1 Peter 1:23, 1 John 2:29, 1 John 3:3

Reciprocal: Proverbs 6:14 - Frowardness Proverbs 15:9 - The way Proverbs 20:11 - General Isaiah 55:8 - General

Cross-References

Genesis 19:3
And he pressed upon them greatly; and they turned in unto him, and entered into his house; and he made them a feast, and did bake unleavened bread, and they did eat.
Genesis 26:30
And he made them a feast, and they did eat and drink.
Genesis 29:22
And Laban gathered together all the men of the place, and made a feast.
Genesis 40:20
And it came to pass the third day, which was Pharaoh's birthday, that he made a feast unto all his servants: and he lifted up the head of the chief butler and of the chief baker among his servants.
Judges 14:10
So his father went down unto the woman: and Samson made there a feast; for so used the young men to do.
Judges 14:12
And Samson said unto them, I will now put forth a riddle unto you: if ye can certainly declare it me within the seven days of the feast, and find it out, then I will give you thirty sheets and thirty change of garments:
1 Samuel 1:22
But Hannah went not up; for she said unto her husband, I will not go up until the child be weaned, and then I will bring him, that he may appear before the Lord , and there abide for ever.
1 Samuel 25:36
And Abigail came to Nabal; and, behold, he held a feast in his house, like the feast of a king; and Nabal's heart was merry within him, for he was very drunken: wherefore she told him nothing, less or more, until the morning light.
2 Samuel 3:20
So Abner came to David to Hebron, and twenty men with him. And David made Abner and the men that were with him a feast.
1 Kings 3:15
And Solomon awoke; and, behold, it was a dream. And he came to Jerusalem, and stood before the ark of the covenant of the Lord , and offered up burnt offerings, and offered peace offerings, and made a feast to all his servants.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

The way of man [is] froward and strange,.... Not the way of any and every man; not the way of righteous and good men, of believers in Christ; who know him, the way, and walk in him and after him, and being led by him; who have his spirit to be their guide, and do walk in his ways, and find pleasure in them; the way of such is not froward or perverse, but upright and even, and is not strange, for the Lord knows and approves of it: but the way of wicked and impure men, as may be learned from the opposition in the next clause; the way of unregenerate men, who are gone out of the good way, and turned to their own way, which is according to the course of the world, and after the prince of it, and according to the flesh, and dictates of corrupt nature, which is the common and broad road that leads to destruction. This is a "froward" or perverse way, a way contrary to reason and truth; contrary to the word of God, and the directions of it; it is a crooked distorted path; it is not according to rule; it is a deviation from the way of God's commandment, and is a "strange" one; the Scriptures know nothing of it, and do not point and direct unto it; it estranges a man from God, and carries him further and further off from him. It may be rendered, "perverse [is] the way of a man, even of a stranger" t; of one that is a stranger to God and godliness; to Christ and his Gospel; to the Spirit, and the operations of his grace on the heart; to his own heart, and his state and condition by nature; and to all good men, and all that is good;

but [as for] the pure, his work [is] right. God is pure, purity itself, in comparison of whom nothing is pure; and his work in creation, providence, and grace, is right; there is no unrighteousness in him; and this sense is favoured by the Septuagint and Arabic versions: or rather every good man, who, through the pure righteousness of Christ imputed to him, and through his precious blood being sprinkled on him, or rather through being washed in it, and through the grace of God bestowed on him, is pure, wholly cleansed from sin; has a pure heart, speaks a pure language, and holds the mystery of faith in a pure conscience or conversation: and his work, or the work of God upon him, is right and good; or his work of faith, which he exercises on God, is hearty and genuine: and even his works, as the Targum, Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic versions, have it in the plural number; all his good works are right; being done from love, in faith, in the name and strength of Christ, and to the glory of God.

t וזר "et alieni", Pagninus, Montanus; "et extranei", Vatablus; so Jarchi, Kimchi, and Ben Melech.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Or, “Perverse is the way of a sin burdened man.”


 
adsfree-icon
Ads FreeProfile