A foolish son is the calamity of his father: and the contentions of a wife are a continual dropping.
Parallel translations
- WEB A foolish son is the calamity of his father. A wife’s quarrels are a continual dripping.
- BSB A foolish son is his father’s ruin, and a quarrelsome wife is like a constant dripping.
- NKJV A foolish son is the ruin of his father, And the contentions of a wife are a continual dripping.
- NASB A foolish son is destruction to his father, And the quarrels of a wife are a constant dripping.
- NLT A foolish child is a calamity to a father; a quarrelsome wife is as annoying as constant dripping.
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 foolish child and a quarrelsome spouse bring constant misery. Folly and strife within the home wear a person down.
Overview
This proverb pairs two domestic burdens: a foolish son who is a 'calamity' and a contentious wife whose quarrels are like a maddening, ceaseless dripping. It vividly portrays how folly and strife at home erode peace. The imagery, not meant as an attack on women generally, warns against contentiousness in any relationship and commends the wisdom and gentleness that make a household a place of peace.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Prov 27:15A continual dropping in a very rainy day and a contentious woman are alike.
- Prov 21:9It is better to dwell in a corner of the housetop, than with a brawling woman in a wide house.
- Prov 25:24It is better to dwell in the corner of the housetop, than with a brawling woman and in a wide house.
- Prov 10:1The proverbs of Solomon. A wise son maketh a glad father: but a foolish son is the heaviness of his mother.
- Prov 17:25A foolish son is a grief to his father, and bitterness to her that bare him.
- Prov 17:21He that begetteth a fool doeth it to his sorrow: and the father of a fool hath no joy.
- Prov 21:19It is better to dwell in the wilderness, than with a contentious and an angry woman.
- Job 14:19The waters wear the stones: thou washest away the things which grow out of the dust of the earth; and thou destroyest the hope of man.
- 2 Sam 13:1–18And it came to pass after this, that Absalom the son of David had a fair sister, whose name was Tamar; and Amnon the son of David loved her.
- Prov 15:20A wise son maketh a glad father: but a foolish man despiseth his mother.
- Eccl 2:18–19Yea, I hated all my labour which I had taken under the sun: because I should leave it unto the man that shall be after me.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
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 19:13 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.