The Lord tears down the house of the proud, but he protects the property of widows.
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.
- 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.
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 146:9Yahweh preserves the foreigners. He upholds the fatherless and widow, but the way of the wicked he turns upside down.
- Ps 68:5–6A father of the fatherless, and a defender of the widows, is God in his holy habitation.
- Deut 10:17–18For Yahweh your God, he is God of gods, and Lord of lords, the great God, the mighty, and the awesome, who doesn’t respect persons, nor takes reward.
- Prov 14:11The house of the wicked will be overthrown, but the tent of the upright will flourish.
- Prov 12:7The wicked are overthrown, and are no more, but the house of the righteous shall stand.
- Prov 23:10Don’t move the ancient boundary stone. Don’t encroach on the fields of the fatherless:
- Isa 2:12For there will be a day of Yahweh of Armies for all that is proud and haughty, and for all that is lifted up; and it shall be brought low:
- Dan 5:20But when his heart was lifted up, and his spirit was hardened so that he dealt proudly, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and they took his glory from him:
- Jas 1:27Pure religion and undefiled before our God and Father is this: to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.
- Job 40:11–13Pour out the fury of your anger. Look at everyone who is proud, and bring him low.
- Ps 138:6For though Yahweh is high, yet he looks after the lowly; but the proud, he knows from afar.
- 1 Pet 5:5Likewise, you younger ones, be subject to the elder. Yes, all of you clothe yourselves with humility, to subject yourselves to one another; for “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”
- Ps 52:5God will likewise destroy you forever. He will take you up, and pluck you out of your tent, and root you out of the land of the living. Selah.
- Deut 19:14You shall not remove your neighbor’s landmark, which they of old time have set, in your inheritance which you shall inherit, in the land that Yahweh your God gives you to possess.
- Ps 52:1For the Chief Musician. A contemplation by David, when Doeg the Edomite came and told Saul, “David has come to Ahimelech’s house.” Why do you boast of mischief, mighty man? God’s loving kindness endures continually.
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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.