The LORD tears down the house of the proud, but He protects the boundaries of the widow.
Parallel translations
- WEB Yahweh will uproot the house of the proud, but he will keep the widow’s borders intact.
- KJV The LORD will destroy the house of the proud: but he will establish the border of the widow.
- NKJV The Lord will destroy the house of the proud, But He will establish the boundary of the widow.
- NASB The Lord will tear down the house of the proud, But He will set the boundary of the widow.
- NLT The Lord tears down the house of the proud, but he protects the property of widows.
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
God tears down the houses of the proud but protects the vulnerable, like the widow. It matters because the Lord defends the lowly and opposes the arrogant.
Overview
The proverb shows Yahweh as the active defender of the powerless, securing the widow's property boundaries while uprooting the proud. It reflects God's consistent concern for the marginalized throughout Scripture (cf. Deuteronomy 10:18). This anticipates the gospel pattern in which God exalts the humble and scatters the proud (Luke 1:51-52).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 15
- Ps 146:9The LORD protects foreigners; He sustains the fatherless and the widow, but the ways of the wicked He frustrates.
- Ps 68:5–6A father of the fatherless, and a defender of the widows, is God in His holy habitation.
- Deut 10:17–18For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, mighty, and awesome God, showing no partiality and accepting no bribe.
- Prov 14:11The house of the wicked will be destroyed, but the tent of the upright will flourish.
- Prov 12:7The wicked are overthrown and perish, but the house of the righteous will stand.
- Prov 23:10Do not move an ancient boundary stone or encroach on the fields of the fatherless,
- Isa 2:12For the Day of the LORD of Hosts will come against all the proud and lofty, against all that is exalted—it will be humbled—
- Dan 5:20But when his heart became arrogant and his spirit was hardened with pride, he was deposed from his royal throne, and his glory was taken from him.
- Jas 1:27Pure and undefiled religion before our God and Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
- Job 40:11–13Unleash the fury of your wrath; look on every proud man and bring him low.
- Ps 138:6Though the LORD is on high, He attends to the lowly; but the proud He knows from afar.
- 1 Pet 5:5Young men, in the same way, submit yourselves to your elders. And all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”
- Ps 52:5Surely God will bring you down to everlasting ruin; He will snatch you up and tear you away from your tent; He will uproot you from the land of the living. Selah
- Deut 19:14You must not move your neighbor’s boundary marker, which was set up by your ancestors to mark the inheritance you shall receive in the land that the LORD your God is giving you to possess.
- Ps 52:1For the choirmaster. A Maskil of David. After Doeg the Edomite went to Saul and told him, “David has gone to the house of Ahimelech.” Why do you boast of evil, O mighty man? The loving devotion of God endures all day long.
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 15:25 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.