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Proverbs 14:12 and 16:25

A saying that appears twice

"There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death." The same Hebrew words appear at 14:12 and 16:25. Repetition is a feature of Proverbs: about one saying in ten recurs whole or in part. The library's Greek has both, with small differences of wording ("the depths of Hades").

Read Proverbs 14:12 and 16:25 in every edition

Stable text: no manuscript differences in meaning

The family tree

Each row is a language or text tradition. Witnesses in the same row may share ancestry, revise one another, or have an uncertain relationship; the line under each box says which. A solid arrow appears only where direct copying or a documented revised edition is established. Order by date never implies copying. Scroll sideways on a phone.

✓ contains this verse · ▢ pages lost · – no copy survives

  • Same line, through lost copies
  • Translation
Hebrew
  1. The proverb as first composedCollections from the monarchy to the Persian period (debated)
  2. Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)AD 1008Descends, through lost copies, from The proverb as first composed
  3. Proverbs 16:25 (Leningrad Codex)AD 1008Descends, through lost copies, from The proverb as first composed
Greek
  1. Greek Proverbs (library: Giguet's French)Old Greek c. 2nd century BC; French 1872Translated from the Old Greek Proverbs
Latin
  1. Latin Vulgate (Clementine)Jerome c. AD 398, from Hebrew; edition 1592Translated from the Hebrew text Jerome used
English
  1. King James Bible1611Translated from printed Masoretic Hebrew
New Testament quotation

    Every witness, in order

    1. Collections from the monarchy to the Persian period (debated)

      The proverb as first composed

      – No copy survives

      No original survives. The oldest Hebrew copies of Proverbs are two small Qumran fragments (4Q102, 4Q103, 1st century BC – 1st century AD, reported).

    2. Jerome c. AD 398, from Hebrew; edition 1592

      Latin Vulgate (Clementine)

      ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from the Hebrew text Jerome used

      How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Clementine Vulgate (1592 edition).

      Est via quæ videtur homini justa, novissima autem ejus deducunt ad mortem.

      Latin position: Proverbs 14:12. Jerome translated Proverbs from Hebrew (c. AD 398); the Clementine Vulgate sometimes also carries lines from the Greek.

    3. AD 1008

      Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)

      ✓ Contains this passageDescends, through lost copies, from The proverb as first composed

      How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Westminster Leningrad Codex, a digital transcription of the Leningrad Codex.

      יֵ֤שׁ דֶּ֣רֶךְ יָ֭שָׁר לִפְנֵי־אִ֑ישׁ וְ֝אַחֲרִיתָ֗הּ דַּרְכֵי־מָֽוֶת׃

      There is a way that is straight before a man, but its end is the ways of death

      Hebrew position: Proverbs 14:12.

    4. AD 1008

      Proverbs 16:25 (Leningrad Codex)

      ✓ Contains this passageDescends, through lost copies, from The proverb as first composed

      How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Westminster Leningrad Codex, a digital transcription of the Leningrad Codex.

      יֵ֤שׁ דֶּ֣רֶךְ יָ֭שָׁר לִפְנֵי־אִ֑ישׁ וְ֝אַחֲרִיתָ֗הּ דַּרְכֵי־מָֽוֶת׃

      The same saying, word for word

      The repeat.

    5. 1611

      King James Bible

      ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from printed Masoretic Hebrew

      How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: King James Version (1769 text).

      There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.

    6. Old Greek c. 2nd century BC; French 1872

      Greek Proverbs (library: Giguet's French)

      ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from the Old Greek Proverbs

      How the site knows this: Known here only through a translation.

      Il est une voie qui aux hommes semble droite; mais elle aboutit aux abîmes de l’enfer.

      Greek (digital file) position: Proverbs 14:12. Giguet's 1872 French of a printed Greek text (D check). In these chapters the Greek verse positions in the digital file shift; the matching line was found by content. No Göttingen critical edition of Greek Proverbs is published; a C check needs Rahlfs–Hanhart and specialist studies.

    What changed, and why

    Other repeats: 18:8 = 26:22; 13:14 ≈ 14:27; 10:6b = 10:11b; 20:10 ≈ 20:23; 21:9 = 25:24; 22:3 = 27:12; 19:5 ≈ 19:9. Repeats occur within one collection and across collections (14:12 and 16:25 are both in the first Solomonic collection).

    Explanations: the collections drew on a shared oral and written stock; a saying could be placed in two clusters where it fit different neighbours (14:12 follows sayings on the heart; 16:25 follows sayings on sweet speech); editors did not remove duplicates. There is no evidence that the repeats are copying errors. Their presence suggests the book grew by combining smaller collections.

    The saying itself warns against self-deception: what seems right may be fatal. Compare 12:15; 21:2.

    What the evidence shows

    • Independently documentedProverbs 14:12 and 16:25 are identical in the library's Hebrew.
    • Conflicts with current evidenceThe repeats are scribal errors.
    • Strongly supportedRepeated sayings show that Proverbs combined earlier collections.

    Sources

      Related lessons

      • Proverbs 14: The Wise Woman Buildeth Her House →Chapter 14 ranges from the household ("Every wise woman buildeth her house," v. 1) and the farm ("Where no oxen are, the crib is clean," v. 4) to the inner life ("The heart knoweth his own bitterness," v. 10; "Even in laughter the heart is sorrowful," v. 13), to the danger of self-deception ("There is a way which seemeth right unto a man," v. 12, repeated in 16:25), to the courts (vv. 5, 25), the poor (vv. 20–21, 31) and the nation and king (vv. 28, 34–35). "He that oppresseth the poor reproacheth his Maker" (v. 31).
      • Proverbs 16: A Man's Heart Deviseth His Way →Chapter 16 stands near the centre of the book and is full of God. Its opening sayings (vv. 1–9) set human planning beside divine direction: "A man's heart deviseth his way: but the LORD directeth his steps" (v. 9). A royal cluster (vv. 10–15) describes the ideal king, just weights and the danger of royal anger. Then come some of the best-known lines in Proverbs: "Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall" (v. 18); "He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty" (v. 32); "The lot is cast into the lap; but the whole disposing thereof is of the LORD" (v. 33).