He that is slow to wrath is of great understanding: but he that is hasty of spirit exalteth folly.
Parallel translations
- WEB He who is slow to anger has great understanding, but he who has a quick temper displays folly.
- BSB A patient man has great understanding, but a quick-tempered man promotes folly.
- NKJV He who is slow to wrath has great understanding, But he who is impulsive exalts folly.
- NASB One who is slow to anger has great understanding; But one who is quick-tempered exalts foolishness.
- NLT People with understanding control their anger; a hot temper shows great foolishness.
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
Patience reflects great understanding, while a quick temper displays folly. Self-control in anger is a mark of wisdom.
Overview
The slow-to-anger person shows depth of understanding, whereas the hasty-tempered one puts his folly on display. The proverb commends the patient self-mastery that wisdom produces. It reflects God's own patience and the fruit of the Spirit, which includes self-control and longsuffering (Galatians 5:22-23).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 17
- Jas 1:19Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath:
- Eccl 7:9Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry: for anger resteth in the bosom of fools.
- Prov 14:17He that is soon angry dealeth foolishly: and a man of wicked devices is hated.
- Prov 15:18A wrathful man stirreth up strife: but he that is slow to anger appeaseth strife.
- Prov 19:11The discretion of a man deferreth his anger; and it is his glory to pass over a transgression.
- Prov 16:32He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city.
- Prov 25:28He that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down, and without walls.
- Num 12:3(Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth.)
- Prov 22:24–25Make no friendship with an angry man; and with a furious man thou shalt not go:
- Matt 11:29Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
- 1 Cor 13:4–5Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,
- Jas 3:17–18But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.
- Prov 25:8Go not forth hastily to strive, lest thou know not what to do in the end thereof, when thy neighbour hath put thee to shame.
- Eccl 10:6Folly is set in great dignity, and the rich sit in low place.
- Prov 4:8Exalt her, and she shall promote thee: she shall bring thee to honour, when thou dost embrace her.
- Matt 2:16Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently enquired of the wise men.
- Dan 3:19–25Then was Nebuchadnezzar full of fury, and the form of his visage was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego: therefore he spake, and commanded that they should heat the furnace one seven times more than it was wont to be heated.
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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 14:29 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.
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