Hatred stirs up dissension, but love covers all transgressions.
Parallel translations
- WEB Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all wrongs.
- KJV Hatred stirreth up strifes: but love covereth all sins.
- NKJV Hatred stirs up strife, But love covers all sins.
- NASB Hatred stirs up strife, But love covers all offenses.
- NLT Hatred stirs up quarrels, but love makes up for all offenses.
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
Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all wrongs. Hatred breeds conflict; love forgives and heals.
Overview
This well-known proverb contrasts the divisiveness of hatred with the reconciling power of love that covers offenses rather than exposing them. To 'cover' wrongs is not to ignore sin but to forgive and refrain from spreading it. The New Testament cites this truth directly, affirming that love covers a multitude of sins, supremely shown in Christ's atoning love (1 Peter 4:8).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- 1 Pet 4:8Above all, love one another deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.
- 1 Cor 13:4–7Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
- Prov 17:9Whoever conceals an offense promotes love, but he who brings it up separates friends.
- Prov 15:18A hot-tempered man stirs up strife, but he who is slow to anger calms dispute.
- Jas 5:20consider this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and cover over a multitude of sins.
- Jas 4:1What causes conflicts and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from the passions at war within you?
- Prov 28:25A greedy man stirs up strife, but he who trusts in the LORD will prosper.
- Prov 16:27A worthless man digs up evil, and his speech is like a scorching fire.
- Prov 29:22An angry man stirs up dissension, and a hot-tempered man abounds in transgression.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Wisdom personified, with God before creation and the agent of all things, anticipates Christ 'in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom' — the wisdom of God made flesh.
How Proverbs 10:12 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.