Proverbs 6:17 names attitudes and actions that God hates: arrogance, lying, and the taking of innocent life. Solomon, traditionally identified as the author of most of the proverbs, gives this list as wisdom for a son who is being shaped to live rightly before God and among people. The verse is a sober warning, not a random inventory of bad habits.
Haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood…
Proverbs 6:17 (WEB)
What Proverbs 6:17 Means
The first item, “haughty eyes,” describes a look of superiority, the posture of someone who regards others as beneath notice. Eyes in Hebrew idiom often stand for the whole inner attitude, so this is pride that shows itself in how a person looks down on others, dismisses them, or measures their worth by their own status.
“A lying tongue” points to speech that deliberately deceives. The second and third items move from words to deeds: “hands that shed innocent blood” refers to violence against someone who has done no wrong. Together the three items cover a person’s inner pride, what they say, and what they do to others.
The verse describes what God hates. It does not promise that anyone who has ever felt proud or told a lie is beyond help. It sets out the kind of character that stands against God’s justice and mercy, and it invites the reader to examine their own heart in its light.
The Context of Proverbs 6:17
The book of Proverbs is a collection of wisdom teaching, much of it framed as a father speaking to his son about how to live well. Its chapters contrast the wise and the foolish, the righteous and the wicked, and show that choices shape a life over time. Proverbs 6 warns against careless surety for debts, laziness, and then turns to a person whose character is twisted and whose schemes are steady and destructive.
The verses just before the list describe someone with a perverse heart who sows discord, and verse 15 says that such a person’s ruin will come suddenly. Verse 16 then introduces the list as things the LORD hates. Read this way, Proverbs 6:17 is not a random catalog but the core of a character portrait, and the verses after it, which call the son to keep his father’s commandment and his mother’s teaching, show that the wise response is to receive instruction rather than harden into these ways.
Key Phrases in Proverbs 6:17
Proverbs 16:18
Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.
(WEB)
This verse links pride to ruin and humility to honor, which deepens the warning about haughty eyes in Proverbs 6:17. Reading the two together shows how seriously the wisdom books treat the attitude that lifts a person above others.
Micah 6:8
He has shown you, O man, what is good. What does the LORD require of you, but to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?
(WEB)
Micah gathers justice, mercy, and humility into a single summary of what the LORD requires. It offers a positive picture to set beside the list of what the LORD hates in Proverbs, showing the character God desires in place of pride, deceit, and violence.
A Short Prayer From Proverbs 6:17
Lord, you see the places in my heart where pride hides and the words I speak that are not true. Show me where I look down on others, and soften my heart toward them. Guard my tongue so that what I say can be trusted, and keep my hands from anything that harms the innocent. Teach me the humility and honesty you love, and let my life reflect your justice and mercy. Amen.
