A perverse man spreads dissension, and a gossip divides close friends.
Parallel translations
- WEB A perverse man stirs up strife. A whisperer separates close friends.
- KJV A froward man soweth strife: and a whisperer separateth chief friends.
- NKJV A perverse man sows strife, And a whisperer separates the best of friends.
- NASB A perverse person spreads strife, And a slanderer separates close friends.
- NLT A troublemaker plants seeds of strife; gossip separates the best of friends.
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 perverse person breeds conflict, and a gossip divides close friends. It matters because slander and whispering destroy the bonds of friendship.
Overview
The proverb exposes how perverse and whispering tongues sow strife and break apart even intimate friendships. Gossip is portrayed as deeply destructive to community. By contrast, love covers offenses and promotes unity (Proverbs 17:9; 1 Peter 4:8).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Prov 17:9Whoever conceals an offense promotes love, but he who brings it up separates friends.
- Jas 3:14–16But if you harbor bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast in it or deny the truth.
- Prov 18:8The words of a gossip are like choice morsels that go down into the inmost being.
- Prov 15:18A hot-tempered man stirs up strife, but he who is slow to anger calms dispute.
- Rom 1:29They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed, and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, and malice. They are gossips,
- Prov 6:14With deceit in his heart he devises evil; he continually sows discord.
- 1 Tim 6:3–5If anyone teaches another doctrine and disagrees with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and with godly teaching,
- Prov 6:19a false witness who gives false testimony, and one who stirs up discord among brothers.
- Gen 3:1–13Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field that the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden?’”
- 1 Sam 24:9and said to Saul, “Why do you listen to the words of men who say, ‘Look, David intends to harm you’?
- Prov 30:33For as the churning of milk yields butter, and the twisting of the nose draws blood, so the stirring of anger brings forth strife.”
- Prov 26:20–22Without wood, a fire goes out; without gossip, a conflict ceases.
- 2 Cor 12:20For I am afraid that when I come, I may not find you as I wish, and you may not find me as you wish. I fear that there may be quarreling, jealousy, rage, rivalry, slander, gossip, arrogance, and disorder.
- Prov 29:22An angry man stirs up dissension, and a hot-tempered man abounds in transgression.
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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 16:28 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.