Where there is no wood, the fire goes out; And where there is no talebearer, strife ceases.
Parallel translations
- WEB For lack of wood a fire goes out. Without gossip, a quarrel dies down.
- KJV Where no wood is, there the fire goeth out: so where there is no talebearer, the strife ceaseth.
- BSB Without wood, a fire goes out; without gossip, a conflict ceases.
- NASB For lack of wood the fire goes out, And where there is no gossiper, quarreling quiets down.
- NLT Fire goes out without wood, and quarrels disappear when gossip stops.
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
As fire dies without wood, a quarrel dies without gossip. Removing the fuel of slander ends conflict.
Overview
The proverb identifies the gossip or whisperer as the fuel that keeps strife burning, so withdrawing it brings peace. It commends restraining the tongue to extinguish needless conflict (Prov 16:28). Believers are called to be peacemakers who starve quarrels rather than feed them (Matt 5:9).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 4
- Prov 16:28A perverse man stirs up strife. A whisperer separates close friends.
- Prov 22:10Drive out the mocker, and strife will go out; yes, quarrels and insults will stop.
- Jas 3:6And the tongue is a fire. The world of iniquity among our members is the tongue, which defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature, and is set on fire by Gehenna.
- Prov 26:22The words of a whisperer are as dainty morsels, they go down into the innermost parts.
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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 26:20 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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