¹⁶There are six things which the Lord hates, yes, seven which are an abomination to Him: ¹⁷haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, ¹⁸a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that run rapidly to evil, ¹⁹a false witness who utters lies, and one who spreads strife among brothers.

In this preamble (of sorts) to the proverbial teaching of chapters 10-31, we see seven critical areas for applying wisdom. Solomon uses a common form of literary emphasis where a writer itemizes a list of things and then adds one more. He uses this technique six other times, all in chapter 30. But here, he summarizes themes that he repeats throughout chapters 10-30. (Remember, chapters 1-9 are a preamble to wisdom, laying out the general principles and giving a foretaste of the compendium of proverbial statements, which begins in chapter 10.)

God detests these seven things; He (through Solomon’s writing) calls them an abomination because they are vulture-like attributes of completely self-centered individuals. These things make a person destructive to all that is wise and life-giving, a complete opposite of godliness. Meditating on this list will help us keep “the fear of the Lord” in our hearts and minds (Prov. 1:7, 9:10). In fact, fearing God will cause us to hate what He hates (Prov. 8:13).

Haughty eyes. This is “the look”—we all know it when we see it in another person’s eyes. The look of arrogance communicates, “I am better than you.” The eyes reveal the heart.

Lying tongue. God detests the use of deceptive words that distort reality. This includes verbal fabrications, terminological manipulations, misrepresentations, and any communication that tries to force an alternate “reality” on others and convince them of something utterly false.

Murder. God is the giver of life, and He alone is the taker of life. This principle does not preclude capital punishment or a just war (see Genesis 9:6, as well as David’s military exploits). But God absolutely detests the unjust killing of another person who is innocent of any wrongdoing. This covers a lot of ground, as Jesus explained in Matthew 5:21-22, including emotionally attacking and demeaning others to destroy their reputation.

Evil intentions. What we think is who we are. “A heart that devises wicked plans” points to premeditation. James 1:14 says that temptation begins with our inner lusts. The greatest lust is the desire to rise above others, be our own version of God, and control those around us. Our plans to carry out our inner desires begin with how we think about ourselves.

Evil actions. Premeditation leads to actions; rarely is an evil person patient. Once he devises a plan, he wastes no time in executing it. His “feet … run rapidly to evil.”

False witness. This is similar to the second item on this list but more pointed. God particularly hates when a person fabricates a false charge against another with the intent of manipulating the law to bring a criminal punishment on that other person. God desires truth in our innermost being (Ps. 51:6), and He demands that we love our neighbor as ourselves (Lev. 19:18). A false witness undercuts both of these.

Causing strife. Strife is the outworking of the first six items in this list. People whose actions are named on this list of destructive attributes and behaviors continue the conflict into which Adam and Eve fell after their unwise decision to eat the forbidden fruit.

Lord, teach me to hate these seven things which You abhor, for I fear You more than I fear the loss of my self-centeredness. I do not want to be doing anything that You detest.