By pride comes nothing but strife, But with the well-advised is wisdom.
Parallel translations
- WEB Pride only breeds quarrels, but with ones who take advice is wisdom.
- KJV Only by pride cometh contention: but with the well advised is wisdom.
- BSB Arrogance leads only to strife, but wisdom is with the well-advised.
- NASB Through overconfidence comes nothing but strife, But wisdom is with those who receive counsel.
- NLT Pride leads to conflict; those who take advice are wise.
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
Pride produces strife, but those who take advice gain wisdom. Teachability is the path to peace and understanding.
Overview
Pride insists on its own way and so breeds quarrels, whereas humility welcomes counsel and grows wise. The proverb commends the willingness to be corrected as a mark of true wisdom. This echoes the gospel pattern, where humbling oneself to receive instruction stands opposite the self-exalting pride that resists God (James 4:6).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 19
- Prov 19:20Listen to counsel and receive instruction, that you may be wise in your latter end.
- Prov 12:15–16The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but he who is wise listens to counsel.
- Prov 17:14The beginning of strife is like breaching a dam, therefore stop contention before quarreling breaks out.
- 1 Tim 6:4he is conceited, knowing nothing, but obsessed with arguments, disputes, and word battles, from which come envy, strife, insulting, evil suspicions,
- 3 Jn 1:9–10I wrote to the assembly, but Diotrephes, who loves to be first among them, doesn’t accept what we say.
- Luke 22:24There arose also a contention among them, which of them was considered to be greatest.
- Jas 3:14–16But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, don’t boast and don’t lie against the truth.
- Jas 4:1Where do wars and fightings among you come from? Don’t they come from your pleasures that war in your members?
- Prov 21:24The proud and haughty man, “scoffer” is his name; he works in the arrogance of pride.
- Luke 14:28–32For which of you, desiring to build a tower, doesn’t first sit down and count the cost, to see if he has enough to complete it?
- 1 Kgs 12:16When all Israel saw that the king didn’t listen to them, the people answered the king, saying, “What portion have we in David? We don’t have an inheritance in the son of Jesse. To your tents, Israel! Now see to your own house, David.” So Israel departed to their tents.
- Judg 8:1–3The men of Ephraim said to him, “Why have you treated us this way, that you didn’t call us when you went to fight with Midian?” They rebuked him sharply.
- Prov 20:18Plans are established by advice; by wise guidance you wage war!
- Acts 6:1–5Now in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplying, a complaint arose from the Hellenists against the Hebrews, because their widows were neglected in the daily service.
- 1 Kgs 12:10–11The young men who had grown up with him said to him, “Tell these people who spoke to you, saying, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy, but make it lighter to us;’ tell them, ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s waist.
- 2 Kgs 14:10You have indeed struck Edom, and your heart has lifted you up. Enjoy the glory of it, and stay at home; for why should you meddle to your harm, that you fall, even you, and Judah with you?’”
- Prov 25:8Don’t be hasty in bringing charges to court. What will you do in the end when your neighbor shames you?
- Judg 12:1–6The men of Ephraim were gathered together, and passed northward; and they said to Jephthah, “Why did you pass over to fight against the children of Ammon, and didn’t call us to go with you? We will burn your house around you with fire!”
- Jas 4:5–6Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, “The Spirit who lives in us yearns jealously”?
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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 13:10 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.