A froward man soweth strife: and a whisperer separateth chief friends.
Parallel translations
- WEB A perverse man stirs up strife. A whisperer separates close friends.
- BSB A perverse man spreads dissension, and a gossip divides close 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 17:9He that covereth a transgression seeketh love; but he that repeateth a matter separateth very friends.
- Jas 3:14–16But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth.
- Prov 18:8The words of a talebearer are as wounds, and they go down into the innermost parts of the belly.
- Prov 15:18A wrathful man stirreth up strife: but he that is slow to anger appeaseth strife.
- Rom 1:29Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers,
- Prov 6:14Frowardness is in his heart, he deviseth mischief continually; he soweth discord.
- 1 Tim 6:3–5If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness;
- Prov 6:19A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.
- Gen 3:1–13Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
- 1 Sam 24:9And David said to Saul, Wherefore hearest thou men’s words, saying, Behold, David seeketh thy hurt?
- Prov 30:33Surely the churning of milk bringeth forth butter, and the wringing of the nose bringeth forth blood: so the forcing of wrath bringeth forth strife.
- Prov 26:20–22Where no wood is, there the fire goeth out: so where there is no talebearer, the strife ceaseth.
- 2 Cor 12:20For I fear, lest, when I come, I shall not find you such as I would, and that I shall be found unto you such as ye would not: lest there be debates, envyings, wraths, strifes, backbitings, whisperings, swellings, tumults:
- Prov 29:22An angry man stirreth up strife, and a furious man aboundeth in transgression.
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 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
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