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If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small.
Proverbs 24:10 · King James Version
Parallel translations
  • WEB If you falter in the time of trouble, your strength is small.
  • BSB If you faint in the day of distress, how small is your strength!
  • NKJV If you faint in the day of adversity, Your strength is small.
  • NASB ¶If you show yourself lacking courage on the day of distress, Your strength is meager.
  • NLT If you fail under pressure, your strength is too small.

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

If you collapse in adversity, your strength was small to begin with.

Overview

Trouble tests and reveals the true measure of one's strength and faith. Faltering in hardship exposes a weakness that prosperity had concealed. This drives believers to find their strength not in themselves but in the Lord, who supplies power in trial, so that even in weakness His strength is made perfect (2 Cor. 12:9; Phil. 4:13).

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 10

  • Isa 40:28–31Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding.
  • Eph 3:13Wherefore I desire that ye faint not at my tribulations for you, which is your glory.
  • Jer 51:46And lest your heart faint, and ye fear for the rumour that shall be heard in the land; a rumour shall both come one year, and after that in another year shall come a rumour, and violence in the land, ruler against ruler.
  • 1 Sam 27:1And David said in his heart, I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul: there is nothing better for me than that I should speedily escape into the land of the Philistines; and Saul shall despair of me, to seek me any more in any coast of Israel: so shall I escape out of his hand.
  • Heb 12:3–5For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.
  • Job 4:5But now it is come upon thee, and thou faintest; it toucheth thee, and thou art troubled.
  • Rev 2:3And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name’s sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted.
  • 2 Cor 4:1Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not;
  • Rev 2:13I know thy works, and where thou dwellest, even where Satan’s seat is: and thou holdest fast my name, and hast not denied my faith, even in those days wherein Antipas was my faithful martyr, who was slain among you, where Satan dwelleth.
  • John 4:8(For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat.)

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (2)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Proverbs videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Proverbs 24:10YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on ProverbsMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    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 24:10 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.