Passage
Evil thoughts are an abomination to Yahweh, But pleasant words are pure.
Proverbs 15:26 (LSB)
Nearby Context
Proverbs 15:24 The path of life leads upward for the one who has insight That he may turn away from Sheol below.
Proverbs 15:25 Yahweh will tear down the house of the proud, But He will cause the boundary of the widow to stand.
Proverbs 15:26 Evil thoughts are an abomination to Yahweh, But pleasant words are pure.
Proverbs 15:27 He who is greedy for gain troubles his own house, But he who hates gifts of bribery will live.
Proverbs 15:28 The heart of the righteous ponders how to answer, But the mouth of the wicked pours forth evil things.
Study Lenses
The verse centers on "evil", "thoughts", "abomination", "yahweh", "pleasant", "words", and "pure". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "evil" and "thoughts", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.
The nearby context moves from verse 25's "Yahweh will tear down the house of..." into verse 27's "He who is greedy for gain troubles...", so "evil" and "thoughts" belong inside that flow. In Proverbs context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.
A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "evil" and "thoughts" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.