Proverbs 25:10

Proverbs 25:10, in plain English

If you betray someone's confidence while arguing your case, the person you confided in will lose respect for you, and your reputation will never recover.

Why it's here

You're in a dispute and you think revealing a secret will help you. You don't realize the real damage: now everyone knows you can't be trusted with confidential information. Your word becomes worthless. You've destroyed your own credibility far more than you've helped your case.

Who's speaking

Solomon, explaining the long-term consequences of betraying trust

Where it sits in the story

Throughout Scripture, trustworthiness is foundational to relationships—with God, with each other. Betraying confidence is portrayed as a serious breach of the covenant relationship, whether between people or between God and His people.

The scholarly reading

If you betray confidences in a dispute, the listener will spread word of your betrayal, and your reputation for trustworthiness will be permanently damaged.

Language and setting

The verb יִשְׁמְעוּךָ (yishmaka—he who hears you) refers to the person you're complaining to. The chain of consequence is inexorable: you gossip to one person; that person tells others; you become known as someone who cannot be trusted with secrets. The Hebrew הַשְׁמָעָתְךָ קָלוֹן (hashmattah qalon—brings shame upon you) uses language suggesting irreversible social damage. In a community where reputation is everything—and ancient societies were reputation-based—this is genuine catastrophe. The phrase 'your infamy will never go away' (קָלוֹנְךָ לֹא יָשׁוּב) suggests permanent, not temporary, damage.

Voice

The wisdom teacher, explaining the relational consequences of betrayal.

Significance

This reflects the profound biblical insight that speech has power and permanence. Words create social reality (Proverbs 18:21). In later Christian teaching, James 3:1-12 develops the metaphor of the tongue's destructive power using similar imagery.

8do not bring hastily to court. Otherwise, what will you do in the end when your neighbor puts you to shame?

9Argue your case with your neighbor without betraying another’s confidence,

10lest he who hears you bring shame upon you, and your infamy never go away.

11A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.

12Like an earring of gold or an ornament of fine gold is a wise man’s rebuke to a listening ear.

Read all of Proverbs 25 — A new section: proverbs copied by Hezekiah's scribes. A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in a setting of silver.