Proverbs – Lesson 22 – Proverbs 6.17 (October 7, 2026)

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PROVERBS: GOD’S HANDBOOK FOR HIS IMAGE BEARERS

LESSON 22

Seven Things God Hates — A Lying Tongue

Proverbs 6:16–19

SETTING: A BRIEF REVIEW

In our previous lesson, we defined two words Solomon used to describe God’s attitude toward sin: hate and abomination.

	Proverbs 6:16 16 These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him:
Hate The Hebrew word Solomon uses for hate means active, personal opposition. God’s hatred is not emotional outrage. It is a settled, determined opposition rooted in His holy nature. When God hates something, He actively opposes it and brings judgment against it. Hate is grounded in God’s holiness and justice. God hates anything that despises, detests, or disregards His standards. God’s hatred coexists with His mercy. He hates sin and the sinner, yet He does not delight in the death of anyone and desires that all sinners turn to Him and live.
Abomination Abomination denotes something deeply repugnant, detestable, and utterly loathsome to God. God is set against these things with the intensity of disgust and revulsion. Deuteronomy 7:25–26 describes an abomination as “a cursed thing” that one should “utterly detest” and “utterly abhor.” The term carries a sense of ritual or moral uncleanness. It marks 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.

The previous lesson also exposed the connection between our bodies and our sin. God created us in His image and after His likeness. His intention was to fill the earth with His image bearers. Sin distorts God’s image. The previous lesson discussed the sin of a proud look. Pride was the original sin and the root of the remaining sins in Solomon’s list.

NEXT ON THE LIST
	Proverbs 6:17 17 A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood,
A LYING TONGUE

In the context of Proverbs 6:17, where the Lord lists things He abhors, this phrase represents deliberate misrepresentation designed to mislead or harm others.

The biblical perspective on lying tongues emphasizes their destructive nature and fundamental opposition to God’s character.

Since all truth originates in God’s being — He is “the God of truth,” and all His works are accomplished in truth and justice — when people speak lies about God’s standards, they twist and distort His very nature.

Satan, as the father of lies who came to deceive in Eden, embodies the lying tongue. The idiom of his language is the lie itself.

“A lying tongue” pairs the body part (tongue) with the sin (lying), matching the pattern already established in this series: mouth, eyes, feet, and hands each become instruments of sin or instruments of God’s image.

The noun order in Hebrew is lashon sheqer — “tongue of falsehood.” The tongue is named as the instrument. The falsehood is named as the practice.

The Hebrew word for lying appears 113 times in the Old Testament. It carries the range: to lie, to deceive, to commit fraud, to testify falsely, to swear falsely.

The Hebrew word used for lying is the same word found in the ninth commandment (Exodus 20:16): “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.”

Working Definition For this study we will define a lying tongue as: a tongue that speaks falsehood — that deceives, misleads, or twists the truth on purpose.

BIBLICAL TRUTHS & CONNECTIONS

The connection between lying and Satan is found in John 8:44.

John 8:44 44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

What does it mean that Satan is the Father of Lies?

It means he is the original liar. To be the father of something means the person is the originator in some way.

An Illustration of “Father Of” Henry Knox wrote to George Washington in 1787 that his service at the Constitutional Convention could “doubly entitle you to the glorious republican epithet — The Father of Your Country.”

Jesus was connecting those who practiced lying and deception as the children of Satan. The Bible uses the term “child of” to describe the relationship between a person and the character they manifest. To be a child of God means a person manifests the character of God. The DNA of God is evident in our character, which shows up in our speech. The opposite is true. To be a child of the devil means a person is manifesting, or imaging, the character of Satan. In John 8:44, Jesus was referring to lies. Since God is truth and Satan is the father of lies, every lie images Satan, not God.

Colossians 3:9–10 9–10 Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:

The Old Testament states that God does not lie.

Numbers 23:19 19 God is not a man, that he should lie…

Paul declares that God cannot lie.

	Titus 1:2 2 In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;
HATE & ABOMINATION APPLIED

Solomon has already declared that God hates these sins, and they are an abomination to Him. Modern culture tries to relabel this sin in an attempt to make it more acceptable. Consider these false labels:

• White lie
• Little lie
• Fib
• Half-truth
• Exaggeration
• Omission

God does not comply with these labels for sin. He hates the lying tongue. This means God judges this sin, and He separates from the sin and the person practicing the sin. The lying tongue is an abomination to God because His image is not only distorted by lying, but His image bearers are harmed in the process. The lie Satan told Eve resulted in death for all mankind — separation from God, and the need for the Son of God to suffer and die to forgive and cleanse us from the sin of lying.

EXAMPLES OF GOD’S TREATMENT OF LYING TONGUES

Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5:1–11)

When the church was just being formed in the book of Acts, many of the Jews who believed in Jesus and confessed He was the Son of God lost their jobs or their ability to provide for their families. To help with this, many of the wealthy Christians brought financial gifts to the church to provide for the needs of other believers. In one case, a man named Barnabas sold a piece of land and brought the money to the church.

A husband and wife decided to do the same thing. Only after they sold the land, they decided to keep part of the money for themselves. They had every right to do this. But they lied and said they were donating all the money they received from the sale.

God exposed this deception to Peter, who questioned the couple about the donation. At that time they could have come clean, but they stuck to their lie. The end result was that God killed both the husband and the wife for their deception.

While God does not immediately kill every person who lies, fibs, or deceives, every person will one day pay for that sin. And if this is the pattern in a person’s life, then the Bible teaches us to examine this fruit in their life. What does lying say about a person? Are they a child of God or a child of Satan? According to Jesus and the Bible, they are a child of Satan and belong to his kingdom.

WARNING & COMMANDS TO GOD’S CHILDREN
	Ephesians 4:25 25 Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another.
	Colossians 3:9–10 9–10 Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:
	Proverbs 12:22 22 Lying lips are abomination to the LORD: but they that deal truly are his delight.
	Revelation 21:8 8 But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.
CAN GOD LIE?

The obvious answer is no, not in the sense we normally think of lying. When we speak of twisting the truth in a way that brings harm to an innocent person, God does not and cannot do that.

But the Bible does present what appears to be a contradiction to this truth. Consider these verses.

STEP 1		THE APPARENT CONTRADICTION
	1 Kings 22:20–22 20–22 And the LORD said, Who shall persuade Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramothgilead? And one said on this manner, and another said on that manner. And there came forth a spirit, and stood before the LORD, and said, I will persuade him. And the LORD said unto him, Wherewith? And he said, I will go forth, and I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And he said, Thou shalt persuade him, and prevail also: go forth, and do so.

In this text, God appears to use deception to lure a king to his death.

Ezekiel 14:9 9 And if the prophet be deceived when he hath spoken a thing, I the LORD have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand upon him, and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel.

It appears God claims to deceive a prophet.

2 Thessalonians 2:11 11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:

Paul declares that God will send a strong delusion, causing people to believe a lie.

Do any of these prove that God lies? Is it ever right or appropriate to lie or deceive?

STEP 2

THE KEY: CONTEXT AND GOD’S JUSTICE

The key to understanding these apparent contradictions is the context of the text we are reading, along with a biblical understanding of God’s justice.

In each case, God is not using deception on an innocent person, or for personal gain. These are instances of God’s just judgment against sin being carried out.

In 1 Kings 22, the king of Israel had rejected God and His word. He refused to hear or follow God’s warnings. God judged the king and found him guilty. What we read in this chapter is God executing judgment on a king guilty of rejecting God’s truth.

Biblical Principle: The Principle of Retribution Throughout the Bible, God maintains a principle in judgment known as the principle of retribution: the punishment should fit the crime. This principle protected human courts from being too lenient or too harsh on the guilty.
	Romans 1:28 28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;

In Exodus 21, God instructed Moses to administer judgment that fit the crime. This is where we learn about life for life, eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth, hand for a hand, and foot for a foot. The punishment must be neither less nor more than the crime committed.

STEP 3

BACK TO THE QUESTION: DOES GOD USE DECEPTION?

Yes, when it fits the crime, but never outside of judicial punishment.

In the case of 1 Kings 22, the king of Israel had rejected God’s truth and followed false prophets. God allowed him to follow false prophets to his death. But even in that case, God first sent a true prophet to warn the king that the false prophets were being used to lead him to his death. The king, true to his nature, ignored the true prophet and followed the false prophets God allowed to speak to him. Deception was part of his punishment.

Consider Ezekiel 14:9 again.

Ezekiel 14:9 9 And if the prophet be deceived when he hath spoken a thing, I the LORD have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand upon him, and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel.

The context of this passage is that the elders of Israel came to Ezekiel seeking God’s word, but God says they are harboring idols in their hearts. In other words, they are serving and following false gods. They had already rejected and ignored the true God and the truth He sent through His true prophets. When God says, “I the LORD have deceived that prophet,” God is saying: they desired lies, so I gave them lies to follow to their destruction. But God had sent truth beforehand. This is a case of the punishment fitting the crime, not a case of God using lies to deceive innocent people. It is a form of judicial judgment on rebellious people.

Consider 2 Thessalonians 2:11 again.

2 Thessalonians 2:11 11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:

Paul is referring to people who have rejected God and His truth. They have rejected God’s true Son and Messiah. For judgment, God sends them the Antichrist, whom they will follow to their death and destruction. God did not cause the people to reject Him. But once they reject Him and follow lies, God gives them lies to follow. He calls this strong delusion.

Romans 1:28 28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;

God says the punishment will fit the crime. The people who refused to follow what they knew about God are given over, and give themselves up, to a reprobate mind.

STEP 4	THE ANSWER
Answer Can God lie — can God use false statements to harm an innocent person who is seeking truth and trusting Him? No. Will God allow a person to follow lies that He has warned them against? Yes. God never initiates lies or deception, but God is sovereign over deception. This means He will use what a person loves, serves, and follows to administer judgment and retribution on them.

In closing, consider this truth from Paul in Galatians 6:7.

Galatians 6:7 7 Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.

When a person exchanges the truth of God for a lie, God will allow that lie to destroy them.