He who loves disobedience loves strife. One who builds a high gate seeks destruction.
Parallel translations
- KJV He loveth transgression that loveth strife: and he that exalteth his gate seeketh 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 goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.
- Prov 18:12Before destruction the heart of man is proud, but before honor is humility.
- 1 Sam 25:36–38Abigail came to Nabal; and behold, he held a feast in his house, like the feast of a king. Nabal’s heart was merry within him, for he was very drunk. Therefore she told him nothing, until the morning light.
- Jas 3:14–16But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, don’t boast and don’t lie against the truth.
- 1 Kgs 1:5Then Adonijah the son of Haggith exalted himself, saying, “I will be king.” Then he prepared him chariots and horsemen, and fifty men to run before him.
- Jas 1:20for the anger of man doesn’t produce the righteousness of God.
- Prov 29:22–23An angry man stirs up strife, and a wrathful man abounds in sin.
- 2 Sam 15:1After this, Absalom prepared a chariot and horses for himself, and fifty men to run before him.
- Prov 29:9If a wise man goes to court with a foolish man, the fool rages or scoffs, and there is no peace.
- Prov 24:27Prepare your work outside, and get your fields ready. Afterwards, build your house.
- Prov 17:14The beginning of strife is like breaching a dam, therefore stop contention before quarreling breaks out.
- 2 Cor 12:20For I am afraid that by any means, when I come, I might find you not the way I want to, and that I might be found by you as you don’t desire; that by any means there would be strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, factions, slander, whisperings, proud thoughts, riots;
- Jer 22:13–15“Woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness, and his rooms by injustice; who uses his neighbor’s service without wages, and doesn’t give him his hire;
- Dan 4:20–21The tree that you saw, which grew, and was strong, whose height reached to the sky, and its sight to all the earth;
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Commentaries & study tools
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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.