The king’s wrath is as the roaring of a lion; but his favour is as dew upon the grass.
Parallel translations
- WEB The king’s wrath is like the roaring of a lion, but his favor is like dew on the grass.
- BSB A king’s rage is like the roar of a lion, but his favor is like dew on the grass.
- NKJV The king’s wrath is like the roaring of a lion, But his favor is like dew on the grass.
- NASB A king’s wrath is like the roaring of a lion, But his favor is like dew on the grass.
- NLT The king’s anger is like a lion’s roar, but his favor is like dew on the grass.
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 king's anger is fearsome, but his favor is refreshing. Those under authority should weigh the power it holds.
Overview
This proverb compares the king's wrath to a lion's roar and his favor to refreshing dew on the grass, depicting the great consequences of a ruler's disposition. It counsels prudence in dealing with those who hold power. Beyond earthly kings, it points to the supreme King whose wrath is terrible and whose favor is life (Ps. 30:5), urging all to seek the favor of God in Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 15
- Hos 14:5I will be as the dew unto Israel: he shall grow as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon.
- Prov 16:14–15The wrath of a king is as messengers of death: but a wise man will pacify it.
- Luke 12:4–5And I say unto you my friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do.
- Prov 20:2The fear of a king is as the roaring of a lion: whoso provoketh him to anger sinneth against his own soul.
- Prov 28:15As a roaring lion, and a ranging bear; so is a wicked ruler over the poor people.
- Dan 2:12–13For this cause the king was angry and very furious, and commanded to destroy all the wise men of Babylon.
- Eccl 8:4Where the word of a king is, there is power: and who may say unto him, What doest thou?
- Esth 7:8Then the king returned out of the palace garden into the place of the banquet of wine; and Haman was fallen upon the bed whereon Esther was. Then said the king, Will he force the queen also before me in the house? As the word went out of the king’s mouth, they covered Haman’s face.
- Dan 3:19–23Then was Nebuchadnezzar full of fury, and the form of his visage was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego: therefore he spake, and commanded that they should heat the furnace one seven times more than it was wont to be heated.
- Ps 133:3As the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion: for there the LORD commanded the blessing, even life for evermore.
- Dan 6:24And the king commanded, and they brought those men which had accused Daniel, and they cast them into the den of lions, them, their children, and their wives; and the lions had the mastery of them, and brake all their bones in pieces or ever they came at the bottom of the den.
- Mic 5:7And the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many people as a dew from the LORD, as the showers upon the grass, that tarrieth not for man, nor waiteth for the sons of men.
- Ps 72:6He shall come down like rain upon the mown grass: as showers that water the earth.
- 2 Sam 23:4And he shall be as the light of the morning, when the sun riseth, even a morning without clouds; as the tender grass springing out of the earth by clear shining after rain.
- Dan 5:19And for the majesty that he gave him, all people, nations, and languages, trembled and feared before him: whom he would he slew; and whom he would he kept alive; and whom he would he set up; and whom he would he put down.
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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 19:12 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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