Proverbs 12:12-14
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
12 A wicked person desires the catch of evil people,
but the root of the righteous will bear fruit.[a]
13 By the sin of their lips the wicked are ensnared,
but the just escape from a tight spot.
14 From the fruit of their mouths people have their fill of good,(A)
and the works of their hands come back upon them.[b]
Footnotes
- 12:12 A difficult, possibly corrupt saying, but there is no good alternative to the Hebrew text. The wicked desire what the malevolent have captured or killed, but their actions will go for naught because they invite punishment. The righteous, on the other hand, will bear fruit.
- 12:14 The saying contrasts words and deeds. “Fruit” here is not what one normally eats, as in 1:31; 8:19; 31:16, 31, but the consequences of one’s actions. In the second line the things that issue from one’s hands (one’s deeds) come back to one in recompense or punishment. Prv 13:2a and 18:20 are variants. Cf. Mt 7:17; Gal 6:8.
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