As coals are to burning coals, and wood to fire; so is a contentious man to kindle strife.
Parallel translations
- WEB As coals are to hot embers, and wood to fire, so is a contentious man to kindling strife.
- BSB Like charcoal for embers and wood for fire, so is a quarrelsome man for kindling strife.
- NKJV As charcoal is to burning coals, and wood to fire, So is a contentious man to kindle strife.
- NASB Like charcoal to hot embers and wood to fire, So is a contentious person to kindle strife.
- NLT A quarrelsome person starts fights as easily as hot embers light charcoal or fire lights wood.
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 contentious person fuels strife the way coals and wood feed a fire. Quarrelsome people keep conflict burning.
Overview
Complementing verse 20, this names the contentious individual as the kindling that ignites and sustains disputes. The proverb warns against the destructive influence of those who love conflict. It commends the opposite: a peaceable spirit that quenches rather than inflames strife.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- Prov 15:18A wrathful man stirreth up strife: but he that is slow to anger appeaseth strife.
- Prov 29:22An angry man stirreth up strife, and a furious man aboundeth in transgression.
- 2 Sam 20:1And there happened to be there a man of Belial, whose name was Sheba, the son of Bichri, a Benjamite: and he blew a trumpet, and said, We have no part in David, neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse: every man to his tents, O Israel.
- Prov 30:33Surely the churning of milk bringeth forth butter, and the wringing of the nose bringeth forth blood: so the forcing of wrath bringeth forth strife.
- Prov 10:12Hatred stirreth up strifes: but love covereth all sins.
- 1 Kgs 12:20And it came to pass, when all Israel heard that Jeroboam was come again, that they sent and called him unto the congregation, and made him king over all Israel: there was none that followed the house of David, but the tribe of Judah only.
- Ps 120:4Sharp arrows of the mighty, with coals of juniper.
- 1 Kgs 12:2–3And it came to pass, when Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who was yet in Egypt, heard of it, (for he was fled from the presence of king Solomon, and Jeroboam dwelt in Egypt;)
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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 26:21 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.