Proverbs 15:26

Proverbs 15:26, in plain English

God hates the plans and schemes of wicked people, but He genuinely enjoys and welcomes the honest, straightforward words of someone with integrity.

Why it's here

You're looking at the flip side of what matters to God. He's not neutral about our inner life—He knows what we're thinking and planning. He despises the twisted reasoning that leads people to hurt others, but there's something that actually brings Him pleasure: a person who speaks truth with a pure heart.

Who's speaking

Solomon, teaching what God cares about and how His attention works.

Where it sits in the story

God throughout the Bible values honesty and purity of heart above outward appearance or accomplishment. He rejected Cain's offering but accepted Abel's, rejected Saul but chose David—not because of what they looked like but because of what was inside them. Psalm 24 asks 'Who may ascend the mountain of the LORD?' and answers: 'the one with clean hands and a pure heart.'

The scholarly reading

God is repulsed by the internal scheming of the wicked, while finding the words and thoughts of the pure genuinely pleasing.

Language and setting

The Hebrew מַחְשְׁבוֹת (machashavot, 'thoughts') appears here without the definite article, emphasizing an entire category of mental activity—the deliberations, plans, intentions that constitute wickedness in its genesis. Conversely, אִמְרֵי־נְקִיִּים (imrei neqïyim, 'words of the pure') are what actually emerge into speech and action from purified hearts. Schematically, verse 26 moves from the internal (God detests *thoughts*) to the external (God cherishes *words*), suggesting that the pure person has internal coherence—what is thought becomes wholesome speech. The verb תָּעוּב (taarav, 'detest') is visceral; God does not merely disagree but finds wickedness repugnant.

Voice

The wisdom teachers, now making claims about God's internal disposition, His preferences and aesthetic judgments.

Significance

This connects to Jesus's teaching that 'out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks' (Matthew 12:34) and his radical extension of Torah's prohibition of murder and adultery to encompass the internal lust and anger that generate them (Matthew 5:21-30). The biblical narrative consistently locates sin in the heart's orientation before it manifests in deed.

24The path of life leads upward for the wise, that he may avoid going down to Sheol.

25The LORD tears down the house of the proud, but He protects the boundaries of the widow.

26The LORD detests the thoughts of the wicked, but the words of the pure are pleasant to Him.

27He who is greedy for unjust gain brings trouble on his household, but he who hates bribes will live.

28The heart of the righteous ponders how to answer, but the mouth of the wicked blurts out evil.

Read all of Proverbs 15 — A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger. The first proverb most children learn — and most adults forget.