Another verse of Hebrew poetry, this one doesn’t contrast characters like most wise sayings. Here, it’s basically a comparison of two bad people.
“One whose heart is corrupt” is a man or woman whose attitude is morally crooked or twisted. This person doesn’t think right or make appropriate decisions.
“One whose tongue is perverse” is someone with an “overturned” tongue. The phrase suggests that what they say is the underside or opposite of the truth. We just can’t trust what they tell us.
Admittedly, folks sometimes seem to get away with their crooked decisions and upside down words. But the Bible is clear – it will eventually catch up with them. Things may go okay for a while but, in the end, they will “not prosper” and will “fall into trouble.”
Once again, God isn’t mentioned in this verse. And while I know He’s at work in all our lives, I’m not actually certain God needs to do any direct intervention with what’s happening here.
Almost everyone understands the idea that “what goes around, comes around.” We actually believe that, in the end, “we reap what we sow” and we’re pretty sure that our bad decisions and words will come back on us.
And then, beyond all that, there’s still God…