Wrath is cruel, and anger is outrageous; but who is able to stand before envy?
Parallel translations
- WEB Wrath is cruel, and anger is overwhelming; but who is able to stand before jealousy?
- BSB Wrath is cruel and anger is like a flood, but who can withstand jealousy?
- NKJV Wrath is cruel and anger a torrent, But who is able to stand before jealousy?
- NASB Wrath is fierce and anger is a flood, But who can stand before jealousy?
- NLT Anger is cruel, and wrath is like a flood, but jealousy is even more dangerous.
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
Wrath and anger are dangerous, but jealousy is even more relentless and consuming. It cautions us against the overwhelming, destabilizing power of envy.
Overview
The proverb escalates from cruel wrath to flooding anger, then names jealousy as harder still to withstand because it is fixed and unyielding. Scripture treats envy as a corrosive sin that destroys relationships and even drove men to crucify Christ (Matthew 27:18). The gospel cures jealousy by securing our identity and inheritance in Christ, freeing us from grasping at what others have.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 15
- Prov 6:34For jealousy is the rage of a man: therefore he will not spare in the day of vengeance.
- Prov 14:30A sound heart is the life of the flesh: but envy the rottenness of the bones.
- Jas 3:14–16But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth.
- Acts 7:9And the patriarchs, moved with envy, sold Joseph into Egypt: but God was with him,
- Matt 27:18For he knew that for envy they had delivered him.
- 1 Jn 3:12Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother’s righteous.
- Job 5:2For wrath killeth the foolish man, and envy slayeth the silly one.
- Acts 17:5But the Jews which believed not, moved with envy, took unto them certain lewd fellows of the baser sort, and gathered a company, and set all the city on an uproar, and assaulted the house of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people.
- Gen 37:11And his brethren envied him; but his father observed the saying.
- Gen 26:14For he had possession of flocks, and possession of herds, and great store of servants: and the Philistines envied him.
- Jas 4:5–6Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?
- Song 8:6Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm: for love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave: the coals thereof are coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame.
- Acts 5:17Then the high priest rose up, and all they that were with him, (which is the sect of the Sadducees,) and were filled with indignation,
- Rom 1:29Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers,
- Jas 1:19–21Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath:
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Commentaries & study tools
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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 27:4 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.