He loveth transgression that loveth strife: and he that exalteth his gate seeketh destruction.
Parallel translations
- WEB He who loves disobedience loves strife. One who builds a high gate seeks destruction.
- BSB He who loves transgression loves strife; he who builds his gate high invites destruction.
- NKJV He who loves transgression loves strife, And he who exalts his gate seeks destruction.
- NASB One who loves wrongdoing loves strife; One who makes his doorway high seeks destruction.
- NLT Anyone who loves to quarrel loves sin; anyone who trusts in high walls invites disaster.
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
Loving quarrels and self-exalting pride both invite ruin. The verse warns that a contentious, proud disposition leads to its own downfall.
Overview
The first line links a love of strife with a love of transgression, since contention so often springs from sin in the heart. The 'high gate' pictures proud self-display or overreach, which 'seeks destruction.' Scripture consistently teaches that pride precedes a fall (Prov. 16:18), and the gospel answers it by exalting the humility of Christ, who made peace rather than strife (Eph. 2:14-16).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Prov 16:18Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.
- Prov 18:12Before destruction the heart of man is haughty, and before honour is humility.
- 1 Sam 25:36–38And Abigail came to Nabal; and, behold, he held a feast in his house, like the feast of a king; and Nabal’s heart was merry within him, for he was very drunken: wherefore she told him nothing, less or more, until the morning light.
- Jas 3:14–16But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth.
- 1 Kgs 1:5Then Adonijah the son of Haggith exalted himself, saying, I will be king: and he prepared him chariots and horsemen, and fifty men to run before him.
- Jas 1:20For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.
- Prov 29:22–23An angry man stirreth up strife, and a furious man aboundeth in transgression.
- 2 Sam 15:1And it came to pass after this, that Absalom prepared him chariots and horses, and fifty men to run before him.
- Prov 29:9If a wise man contendeth with a foolish man, whether he rage or laugh, there is no rest.
- Prov 24:27Prepare thy work without, and make it fit for thyself in the field; and afterwards build thine house.
- Prov 17:14The beginning of strife is as when one letteth out water: therefore leave off contention, before it be meddled with.
- 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:
- Jer 22:13–15Woe unto him that buildeth his house by unrighteousness, and his chambers by wrong; that useth his neighbour’s service without wages, and giveth him not for his work;
- Dan 4:20–21The tree that thou sawest, which grew, and was strong, whose height reached unto the heaven, and the sight thereof to all the earth;
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 17:19 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.