A stone is heavy and sand is weighty, but the resentment caused by a fool is even heavier.
Parallel translations
- WEB A stone is heavy, and sand is a burden; but a fool’s provocation is heavier than both.
- KJV A stone is heavy, and the sand weighty; but a fool’s wrath is heavier than them both.
- BSB A stone is heavy and sand is a burden, but aggravation from a fool outweighs them both.
- NKJV A stone is heavy and sand is weighty, But a fool’s wrath is heavier than both of them.
- NASB A stone is heavy and the sand weighty, But the provocation of a fool is heavier than both of them.
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 fool's needless provocation weighs on others more than the heaviest physical loads. It warns us how draining unbridled folly is to bear.
Overview
Using vivid images of stone and sand, the proverb stresses that a fool's irritating, contentious behavior is a crushing burden on those around him. Wisdom literature repeatedly contrasts the weight of folly with the lightness of a peaceable spirit. Christ, by contrast, offers an easy yoke and a light burden to all who come to Him (Matthew 11:28-30).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- Dan 3:19Then was Nebuchadnezzar full of fury, and the form of his appearance was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. He spoke, and commanded that they should heat the furnace seven times more than it was usually heated.
- 1 Jn 3:12unlike Cain, who was of the evil one, and killed his brother. Why did he kill him? Because his deeds were evil, and his brother’s righteous.
- 1 Sam 22:18–19The king said to Doeg, “Turn and attack the priests!” Doeg the Edomite turned, and he attacked the priests, and he killed on that day eighty-five people who wore a linen ephod.
- Prov 17:12Let a bear robbed of her cubs meet a man, rather than a fool in his folly.
- Gen 49:7Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce; and their wrath, for it was cruel. I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel.
- Gen 34:25–26On the third day, when they were sore, two of Jacob’s sons, Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brothers, each took his sword, came upon the unsuspecting city, and killed all the males.
- Esth 3:5–6When Haman saw that Mordecai didn’t bow down, nor pay him homage, Haman was full of wrath.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 27:3 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.