Proverbs – Lesson 21 – Proverbs 6.16 (September 30, 2026)

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PROVERBS – God’s Handbook for His Image Bearers

Wednesday Bible Study  •  Lesson 21  •  September 23, 2026

SIX THINGS THE LORD HATES

Proverbs 6:16–19

SETTING

 

In our previous lesson Solomon described a wicked man (the bible called the naughty man). Solomon focused on how he used his body (mouth, eyes, hands, feet) to promote evil.

• He used his words to twist and deceive people.
• He used his eyes to send hidden signals.
• He used his feet and his hands to start trouble without ever speaking a word out loud.

 

Solomon told us that kind of life ends in sudden ruin, and there is no fixing it once it comes.

Now Solomon draws attention to God’s response to ungodly character:

He describes God’s hatred of specific sins:

IMAGING GOD’S HATRED

 

Proverbs 6:16  “These six things doth the LORD HATE: yea, seven are an ABOMINATION unto him.”

 

What Is Godly Hatred

• Hate is not a contradiction to God’s nature but rather an expression of His holiness and justice.
• God’s hatred is grounded in His holiness and justice—as a divine being with standards, God hates anything that despises, detests, or disregards those standards.
• God’s hatred operates differently than human hatred.
• His hatred is always appropriate, focused on evil and the evildoer, and always balanced by His attributes of love and compassion.
• When God hates, it is not an emotional hatred but a disowning of evil and those who commit it, expressed through rejection in will and deed.
• This divine hatred coexists with God’s mercy. The Old Testament reveals a God who both hates sin and the sinner, and yet does not delight in the death of anyone and desires that all sinners turn to Him and live.
• God’s hatred of sin is inseparable from His desire for justice and His commitment to holiness, making it fundamentally different from the destructive, emotionally-driven hatred that characterizes human conflict.

 

How Do We Image God With Holy Hatred?

We Hate How God Hates

We Hate What God Hates

We have just learned how God hates:

His hatred comes from his righteousness and justice.

Hate

• The word Solomon uses for hate means active, personal opposition.
• God’s hatred is not emotional outrage but rather a settled, determined opposition rooted in God’s holy nature.
• When God hates something, He actively opposes it and will bring judgment against it.

 

The next key word in verse 16 is:

Abomination

• Abomination denotes something that is deeply repugnant, detestable, and utterly loathsome to God.
• God is set against these things with the same intensity a person feels when they cannot stand to look at something—something that provokes His disgust and revulsion.
• An abomination is described as “a cursed thing” that one should “utterly detest” and “utterly abhor” (Deuteronomy 7:25–26).

 

Deuteronomy 7:25–26 25 The graven images of their gods shall ye burn with fire: thou shalt not desire the silver or gold that is on them, nor take it unto thee, lest thou be snared therein: for it is an abomination to the LORD thy God. 26 Neither shalt thou bring an abomination into thine house, lest thou be a cursed thing like it: but thou shalt utterly detest it, and thou shalt utterly abhor it; for it is a cursed thing.

 

The term carries a sense of ritual or moral uncleanness that makes something fundamentally incompatible with God’s presence and character.

The progression from “hate” to “abomination” in verse 16 intensifies the divine response—what God hates, He finds utterly abhorrent, and such things invite His judgment and removal from His presence.

Now that we have an idea of HOW God hates, Solomon names seven specific sins, or actions, that God hates and declares an abomination:

SEVEN ABOMINATIONS OF PROVERBS 6:17–19

 

Proverbs 6:17–19 17 A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, 18 An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, 19 A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.

 

Everything on the list represents an outward action that results from a failure to guard our hearts. These actions distort God’s image in us!

Our Subtitle, or “nickname,” for Proverbs Is: God’s handbook for His image bearers.

 

• God gave us a body that we are to use to fill the earth with His image.
• Solomon names seven ways you and I can misuse the body God has given us.
• God hates these seven sinful actions because they corrupt His image in us.

 

We either use our bodies to intentionally image & glorify God, or we are using our bodies to dishonor and distort God’s image in us.

James proves this by warning us to use our tongue/mouth to glorify God instead of cursing people made in God’s image:

James 3:8–9 8 But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. 9 Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God.

 

James warns us that we can use our tongue the way God designed it (to image His character), or we can use our tongue to curse other image bearers.

The Apostle Paul warned us to use our bodies to image God and be intentional not to use our bodies to distort God’s image in us:

1 Corinthians 6:19–20 19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? 20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.

 

Romans 6:13 13 Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.

 

Imaging God is an intentional practice where our actions reveal our love and obedience to God.

HATE WHAT GOD HATES

 

Part of imaging God is the practice of hating what God hates. Solomon provides seven specific sins that God hates:

What sin would you think should be at the top of Solomon’s list?

• Homosexuality?
• Murder?
• Drunkenness?
• etc???

 

Solomon is providing a short list, but he is not providing an exhaustive list. But what is at the top of Solomon’s list?

A PROUD LOOK

 

• A proud look is the disdainful gaze that characterizes someone who looks down on others—what we might describe today as “looking down one’s nose” at someone.
• In Hebrew, this phrase suggests arrogant ambition that excludes God from one’s life or plans, reflecting an attitude that overvalues oneself while undervaluing others.
• This expression manifests as scornful and contemptuous behavior, revealing a person who imagines himself superior to those around him. The proud person considers himself a “cut above” everyone else and disdains those he regards as beneath him.
• Pride is the father of all sin, and it is the one sin that prevents God from using us for His purposes—when we commit ourselves to doing things our way, we cannot do things God’s way, rendering us useless in His kingdom.

 

The Hebrew words Solomon used for proud look is associated with idolatry. It is easy to understand why and how God hates idolatry.

Idolatry replaces God as the center of worship and denies His place as the High and lofty ONE.

Isaiah 57:15 15 For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.

 

In the same way, pride elevates “self” to the place only God occupies. Anything we have to be proud of in ourself came from God and is to be used to worship, honor, image, and glorify God.

Consider how the following examples are meant to image God, and how they can be distorted by pride:

 

Category	How the Wise Image-Bearer Responds
Physical Appearance	The wise person who images God refuses to think they are better than others because of physical appearance (beauty, body style, skin color, hair, etc).
Financial Advantage	The wise person who images God does not look down on those in a lesser financial position than themselves.
Positional Authority	The wise person who images God does not look down on people whom they have authority over.
Patriotic Affiliation	The wise person who images God does not look down on people who belong to a different country, ethnic group, political party, gender, or nationality.
Intellectual Ability

 

A proud look is an abomination to God because it replaces the glory that belongs to God as our creator with a false glory for self.

A proud look is an abomination to God because it causes different levels of harm on people made in His image.

PRIDE THE ORIGINAL SIN

 

Pride is the original sin. The created angel—Lucifer—became full of pride and it led to his rebellion against God.

Ezekiel 28:17 17 Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee.

 

Isaiah 14:12–14 12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! 13 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: 14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.

 

And in Genesis 3, when Adam and Eve sinned, it was pride that Satan used to tempt them, and pride that persuaded them.

Genesis 3:5–6 5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. 6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.

 

CONCLUSION

 

• Wisdom is the skill to take what we know about God and build a life that images and glorifies Him.
• Solomon teaches us that our bodies are instruments created by God for the purpose of imaging Him.
• Because God is Holy, and He is committed to righteousness and justice, He hates actions and attitudes that fail to image Him.
• Hate is not an emotional word. It means God opposes and sets Himself against what He hates. God also separates Himself from people who practice what He hates.
• A proud look is at the top of Solomon’s list because pride is the original sin of Satan and mankind. Pride is the root cause of the remaining sins in Solomon’s list.
• Pride is an ABOMINATION to God. In this lesson we learned that an abomination is something deeply repugnant, detestable, and loathsome to God.

APPLICATION

 

Based on what we now know about pride, what level of intensity should we guard ourselves from pride?

Based on what scripture says about pride, how can we image God hating and abhorring pride in ourselves and others?

• In ourselves
• In our family & friends
• In our sports heroes
• In our spiritual heroes
• In our political heroes
• In social influencers