The LORD will destroy the house of the proud: but he will establish the border of the widow.
Parallel translations
- WEB Yahweh will uproot the house of the proud, but he will keep the widow’s borders intact.
- BSB The LORD tears down the house of the proud, but He protects the boundaries 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 preserveth the strangers; he relieveth the fatherless and widow: but the way of the wicked he turneth upside down.
- Ps 68:5–6A father of the fatherless, and a judge 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, a great God, a mighty, and a terrible, which regardeth not persons, nor taketh reward:
- Prov 14:11The house of the wicked shall be overthrown: but the tabernacle of the upright shall flourish.
- Prov 12:7The wicked are overthrown, and are not: but the house of the righteous shall stand.
- Prov 23:10Remove not the old landmark; and enter not into the fields of the fatherless:
- Isa 2:12For the day of the LORD of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up; and he shall be brought low:
- Dan 5:20But when his heart was lifted up, and his mind hardened in pride, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and they took his glory from him:
- Jas 1:27Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.
- Job 40:11–13Cast abroad the rage of thy wrath: and behold every one that is proud, and abase him.
- Ps 138:6Though the LORD be high, yet hath he respect unto the lowly: but the proud he knoweth afar off.
- 1 Pet 5:5Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.
- Ps 52:5God shall likewise destroy thee for ever, he shall take thee away, and pluck thee out of thy dwelling place, and root thee out of the land of the living. Selah.
- Deut 19:14Thou shalt not remove thy neighbour’s landmark, which they of old time have set in thine inheritance, which thou shalt inherit in the land that the LORD thy God giveth thee to possess it.
- Ps 52:1Why boastest thou thyself in mischief, O mighty man? the goodness of God endureth continually.
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.