The Meaning of Proverbs 21:28 Explained

Proverbs 21:28

KJV: A false witness shall perish: but the man that heareth speaketh constantly.

YLT: A false witness doth perish, And an attentive man for ever speaketh.

Darby: A lying witness shall perish; and a man that heareth shall speak constantly.

ASV: A false witness shall perish; But the man that heareth shall speak so as to endure.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

A false  witness  shall perish:  but the man  that heareth  speaketh  constantly. 

What does Proverbs 21:28 Mean?

Verse Meaning

The contrast is between the person who listens to falsehood and repeats it, and the person who listens to the truth and repeats it. The first person has little concern for listening carefully, but the second person listens, learns, and applies. Heeding the truth makes all the difference.
"The key phrase is a man who hears: his first aim is to know and understand, not to grind some axe. ... the man who listens ( Isaiah 50:4) is the man worth listening to." [1]
Ross believed that the verse teaches that "false witnesses will be discredited and destroyed." [2]

Chapter Summary: Proverbs 21

1  The king's heart in the hand of the Lord

What do the individual words in Proverbs 21:28 mean?

a witness FALSE shall perish but the man and who hears [him] endlessly will speak
עֵד־ כְּזָבִ֥ים יֹאבֵ֑ד וְאִ֥ישׁ שׁ֝וֹמֵ֗עַ לָנֶ֥צַח יְדַבֵּֽר

עֵד־  a  witness 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular construct
Root: עֵד  
Sense: witness.
כְּזָבִ֥ים  FALSE 
Parse: Noun, masculine plural
Root: כָּזָב  
Sense: a lie, untruth, falsehood, deceptive thing.
יֹאבֵ֑ד  shall  perish 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Imperfect, third person masculine singular
Root: אָבַד  
Sense: perish, vanish, go astray, be destroyed.
וְאִ֥ישׁ  but  the  man 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Noun, masculine singular
Root: אִישׁ 
Sense: man.
שׁ֝וֹמֵ֗עַ  and  who  hears  [him] 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Participle, masculine singular
Root: שָׁמַע 
Sense: to hear, listen to, obey.
לָנֶ֥צַח  endlessly 
Parse: Preposition-l, Noun, masculine singular
Root: נֵצַח  
Sense: eminence, perpetuity, strength, victory, enduring, everlastingness.
יְדַבֵּֽר  will  speak 
Parse: Verb, Piel, Imperfect, third person masculine singular
Root: דָּבַר 
Sense: to speak, declare, converse, command, promise, warn, threaten, sing.