A soft answer turns away wrath, But a harsh word stirs up anger.
Parallel translations
- WEB A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.
- KJV A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger.
- BSB A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.
- ESV A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.
- NASB A gentle answer turns away wrath, But a harsh word stirs up anger.
- NLT A gentle answer deflects anger, but harsh words make tempers flare.
Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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 gentle answer defuses wrath, but a harsh word inflames it. Our words can either calm or kindle conflict.
Overview
This beloved proverb teaches the power of speech to shape outcomes: soft, gracious words turn away anger, while harsh ones provoke it. It commends gentleness as a means of peacemaking and self-control. Believers are called to let their speech be gracious, seasoned with salt (Colossians 4:6), reflecting the gentleness of Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Prov 10:12Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all wrongs.
- Prov 25:15By patience a ruler is persuaded. A soft tongue breaks the bone.
- Prov 15:18A wrathful man stirs up contention, but one who is slow to anger appeases strife.
- Prov 29:22An angry man stirs up strife, and a wrathful man abounds in sin.
- Prov 28:25One who is greedy stirs up strife; but one who trusts in Yahweh will prosper.
- 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.
- 1 Sam 25:10–13Nabal answered David’s servants, and said, “Who is David? Who is the son of Jesse? There are many servants who break away from their masters these days.
- 1 Kgs 12:13–16The king answered the people roughly, and abandoned the counsel of the old men which they had given him,
- Judg 12:3–6When I saw that you didn’t save me, I put my life in my hand, and passed over against the children of Ammon, and Yahweh delivered them into my hand. Why then have you come up to me today, to fight against me?”
- 1 Sam 25:21–33Now David had said, “Surely in vain I have kept all that this fellow has in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that pertained to him. He has returned me evil for good.
- 2 Sam 19:43The men of Israel answered the men of Judah, and said, “We have ten parts in the king, and we have also more claim to David than you. Why then did you despise us, that our advice should not be first had in bringing back our king?” The words of the men of Judah were fiercer than the words of the men of Israel.
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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 15:1 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.