Better a dish of vegetables where there is love than a fattened ox with hatred.
Parallel translations
- WEB Better is a dinner of herbs, where love is, than a fattened calf with hatred.
- KJV Better is a dinner of herbs where love is, than a stalled ox and hatred therewith.
- NKJV Better is a dinner of herbs where love is, Than a fatted calf with hatred.
- NASB Better is a portion of vegetables where there is love, Than a fattened ox served with hatred.
- NLT A bowl of vegetables with someone you love is better than steak with someone you hate.
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
A humble meal shared in love surpasses a lavish one poisoned by hatred. It matters because love, not luxury, makes a home and table truly rich.
Overview
Paralleling the previous verse, this proverb elevates relational warmth above material plenty. A simple vegetable dinner where love dwells outshines a feast of fattened calf served with animosity. This anticipates the gospel ethic that love is the greatest treasure and the fulfillment of the law (1 Corinthians 13).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- Prov 17:1Better a dry morsel in quietness than a house full of feasting with strife.
- Prov 21:19Better to live in the desert than with a contentious and ill-tempered wife.
- Matt 22:4Again, he sent other servants and said, ‘Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner. My oxen and fattened cattle have been killed, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.’
- 1 Jn 4:16And we have come to know and believe the love that God has for us. God is love; whoever abides in love abides in God, and God in him.
- Phil 2:1Therefore if you have any encouragement in Christ, if any comfort from His love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any affection and compassion,
- Ps 133:1–3A song of ascents. Of David. Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in harmony!
- Luke 15:23Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let us feast and celebrate.
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 15:17 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.