The words are jarring: “The LORD hates.” Most expect to hear that He loves, forgives, and saves. To say He hates feels almost contradictory. Yet this phrase in Proverbs 6:16–19 pulls back the curtain on the fullness of His love. His hatred is never petty, reckless, or vengeful. It is the moral fire of His holiness.
Because God loves, He hates what destroys what He loves. His wrath stands against anything that threatens His people or distorts His design.
Proverbs does not leave us guessing. It gives us seven realities of sin that God opposes: six the LORD hates, and the seventh called an abomination. Together they trace sin’s path through the human body, showing how rebellion seeps into every part of life.
Haughty eyes — Pride begins as comparison, then looks down in contempt. What starts as a subtle glance grows into blindness toward God and disdain toward others. Because God loves humility, He hates haughty eyes.
A lying tongue — A small twist of truth quickly becomes the tongue’s language of control and harm. Deceit spreads distrust and destroys relationships. Because God loves truth, He hates a lying tongue.
Hands that shed innocent blood — Violence often begins long before the act itself, when we treat others as if their worth does not matter. This disregard grows into destruction of those most vulnerable. Because God loves life, He hates hands that shed innocent blood.
A heart that devises wicked plans — The heart sits at the center of this chiastic list because it is the command center of life. Every other part: eyes, tongue, hands, feet, even voice takes its cue from what has been sown in the heart. Thoughts of revenge, lust, or selfish gain may seem harmless in their infancy, but once they root in the heart they grow into carefully plotted schemes against God and others. This is why Scripture pleads, “Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life” (Proverbs 4:23). Because God loves righteousness, He hates a heart that devises wicked plans.
Feet that run rapidly to evil — What begins as curiosity often matures into appetite, and appetite into pursuit. Feet eager for sin race toward darkness, away from the only One who satisfies. Because God loves holiness, He hates feet that run rapidly to evil.
A false witness who breathes out lies — To distort the truth about another person is never harmless. God sees slander and falsehood as an attack on His justice. Because God loves justice, He hates a false witness who breathes out lies.
One who sows discord among brothers — Solomon saves the most destructive for last. Not only does the LORD hate this, He calls it an abomination, a word reserved for what is most offensive to His holiness. To tear apart the unity of God’s people is to wound Christ’s body and distort His character before the world. Strife within the family of God mocks the grace that reconciled us to Him and to one another. The cross was given to make us one; discord despises that gift. Because God loves unity, He abhors one who spreads strife among brothers.
In every case, God’s wrath is not aimless fury; it stands against anything that destroys what He loves.
God’s hatred of sin is not cold detachment; it is the active expression of His love. He does not merely oppose what destroys; He also delights in and defends what reflects His holiness. The same love that resists evil also shelters what is good.
Creation gives us glimpses of this protective love. A mother bear with her cubs does not love them less because she defends them fiercely. Her delight in her young is inseparable from her willingness to plant herself between them and danger.
Or consider the eagle, spreading her wings to stir the nest, cover her young, and lift them to safety. The same wings that shield with tenderness are strong enough to bear them up against threat.
This is how God’s love works. It delights in what reflects His holiness, and it stands in between the one loved and the enemy threatening. His nurture and His defense are not two loves, but one holy love expressed in two ways.
The fullest expression of this holy love is Calvary. Every deed God hates converged at the cross. Haughty eyes mocked Jesus, lying tongues twisted His words, violent hands nailed Him, wicked hearts plotted His death, feet ran to arrest Him, false witnesses accused Him, and strife turned the crowd to cry, “Crucify Him!”
The Son of God planted Himself between us and the full force of sin’s judgment. He stood in the breach, absorbing what should have fallen on us. At Calvary, His eternal plan to remove sin’s threat and bring it to its final end was accomplished once for all. Every deed God hates was aimed at Jesus, and instead of wrath falling on the guilty, the Father placed it all on His Son.
The cross is where God’s wrath and God’s love met perfectly: wrath toward sin, love toward humanity. There the justice of God was satisfied in Christ’s death, and the grace of God was poured out on all who believe.
This is more than forgiveness. Jesus became the target of what God hates so that we could become the recipient of what God loves. He paid the price of sin with His life so that we could be rescued, forgiven, and brought near to Him forever.
And now, grace reclaims what sin once ruled. The eyes, hands, heart, and feet that once served what God hates are redeemed to serve what He loves. Paul says it with unmistakable clarity: “Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness” (Romans 6:13).
Because God loves, He hates what destroys what He loves. And in Christ, that hatred of sin has become our salvation and our freedom. We are no longer slaves to what brings ruin, but beloved sons and daughters who know, love, and serve the Lord forever.