Also, do not take seriously all the words which are spoken, so that you do not hear your servant cursing you,
Parallel translations
- WEB Also don’t take heed to all words that are spoken, lest you hear your servant curse you;
- KJV Also take no heed unto all words that are spoken; lest thou hear thy servant curse thee:
- BSB Do not pay attention to every word that is spoken, or you may hear your servant cursing you.
- NKJV Also do not take to heart everything people say, Lest you hear your servant cursing you.
- NLT Don’t eavesdrop on others—you may hear your servant curse you.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Don't pay attention to every word people say, or you may hear your own servant curse you. It matters because over-scrutinizing others' words leads to needless pain.
Overview
The Preacher counsels wise discretion: not every overheard word deserves our attention. Hypersensitivity to criticism only wounds us. This practical wisdom commends a gracious, thick-skinned forbearance, in keeping with love that 'covers a multitude of sins' (1 Peter 4:8) and the patient charity Christ teaches toward others' failings.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 5
- Prov 30:10“Don’t slander a servant to his master, lest he curse you, and you be held guilty.
- Isa 29:21who cause a person to be indicted by a word, and lay a snare for the arbiter in the gate, and who deprive the innocent of justice with false testimony.
- 2 Sam 16:10The king said, “What have I to do with you, you sons of Zeruiah? Because he curses, and because Yahweh has said to him, ‘Curse David;’ who then shall say, ‘Why have you done so?’”
- 2 Sam 19:19He said to the king, “Don’t let my lord impute iniquity to me, or remember that which your servant did perversely the day that my lord the king went out of Jerusalem, that the king should take it to his heart.
- 1 Cor 13:5–7doesn’t behave itself inappropriately, doesn’t seek its own way, is not provoked, takes no account of evil;
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The search that finds everything 'under the sun' to be vapor exposes the emptiness of life without God and drives us to the one who alone gives meaning, the resurrection that makes our labor not in vain.
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Original language
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