Tool Beta
Is It Actually in the Bible?
Phrases people quote as Scripture. The real verse, or the honest answer that there is not one.
"It is naught, it is naught, saith the buyer" (Proverbs 20:14) sounds like the buyer is just being mildly, playfully critical.
'Naught' in Proverbs 20:14 is a flat verdict of worthlessness, used as a haggling tactic, not a mild complaint.
Proverbs 20:14, in every translation this tool compares.
Proverbs 20:14 catches a buyer in the act of bargaining: "It is naught, it is naught, saith the buyer: but when he is gone his way, then he boasteth." He trashes the goods as worthless to drive the price down, then brags about the deal once he's walked away. "Naught" simply means "nothing" or "worthless": a strong, blunt dismissal, not a soft aside.
This is the same "naught" that survives in "the plan came to naught" (it amounted to nothing). It's unrelated to the modern, much gentler word "naughty," which by the time it settled into its current sense describes minor mischief, not something declared worthless.
