Don’t be hasty in your spirit to be angry, for anger rests in the bosom of fools.
Parallel Translations
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Don’t be hasty in your spirit to be angry, for anger rests in the bosom of fools.
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Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry: for anger resteth in the bosom of fools.
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Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry; for anger resteth in the bosom of fools.
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Cross-references (19)
Passages linked to Ecclesiastes 7:9 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- James 1:19 So, then, my beloved brothers, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger;
- Proverbs 14:17 He who is quick to become angry will commit folly, and a crafty man is hated.
- Ephesians 4:26-27 “Be angry, and don’t sin.” Don’t let the sun go down on your wrath, and don’t give place to the devil.
- Proverbs 16:32 One who is slow to anger is better than the mighty; one who rules his spirit, than he who takes a city.
- Proverbs 26:23-26 Like silver dross on an earthen vessel are the lips of a fervent one with an evil heart. A malicious man disguises himself with his lips, but he harbors evil in his heart. When his speech is charming, don’t believe him, for there are seven abominations in his heart. His malice may be concealed by deception, but his wickedness will be exposed in the assembly.
- Genesis 34:7-8 The sons of Jacob came in from the field when they heard it. The men were grieved, and they were very angry, because he had done folly in Israel in lying with Jacob’s daughter, a thing ought not to be done. Hamor talked with them, saying, “The soul of my son, Shechem, longs for your daughter. Please give her to him as a wife.
- Genesis 34:30-31 Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have troubled me, to make me odious to the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites. I am few in number. They will gather themselves together against me and strike me, and I will be destroyed, I and my house.” They said, “Should he deal with our sister as with a prostitute?”
- 1 Samuel 25:21-22 Now David had said, “Surely in vain I have kept all that this fellow has in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that pertained to him. He has returned me evil for good. God do so to the enemies of David, and more also, if I leave of all that belongs to him by the morning light so much as one who urinates on a wall.”
- 2 Samuel 13:22 Absalom spoke to Amnon neither good nor bad; for Absalom hated Amnon, because he had forced his sister Tamar.
- 2 Samuel 19:43 The men of Israel answered the men of Judah, and said, “We have ten parts in the king, and we have also more claim to David than you. Why then did you despise us, that our advice should not be first had in bringing back our king?” The words of the men of Judah were fiercer than the words of the men of Israel.
- Esther 3:5-6 When Haman saw that Mordecai didn’t bow down, nor pay him homage, Haman was full of wrath. But he scorned the thought of laying hands on Mordecai alone, for they had made known to him Mordecai’s people. Therefore Haman sought to destroy all the Jews who were throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus, even Mordecai’s people.
- Genesis 4:5-6 but he didn’t respect Cain and his offering. Cain was very angry, and the expression on his face fell. Yahweh said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why has the expression of your face fallen?
- Genesis 34:25-26 On 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. They killed Hamor and Shechem, his son, with the edge of the sword, and took Dinah out of Shechem’s house, and went away.
- 2 Samuel 13:28 Absalom commanded his servants, saying, “Mark now, when Amnon’s heart is merry with wine; and when I tell you, ‘Strike Amnon,’ then kill him. Don’t be afraid. Haven’t I commanded you? Be courageous, and be valiant!”
- Mark 6:19 Herodias set herself against him, and desired to kill him, but she couldn’t,
- Genesis 4:8 Cain said to Abel, his brother, “Let’s go into the field.” While they were in the field, Cain rose up against Abel, his brother, and killed him.
- Jonah 4:9 God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the vine?” He said, “I am right to be angry, even to death.”
- Mark 6:24 She went out, and said to her mother, “What shall I ask?” She said, “The head of John the Baptizer.”
- 2 Samuel 13:32 Jonadab, the son of Shimeah, David’s brother, answered, “Don’t let my lord suppose that they have killed all the young men the king’s sons; for Amnon only is dead; for by the appointment of Absalom this has been determined from the day that he forced his sister Tamar.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (12 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain A man that is esteemed wise, when he falleth…
A man that is esteemed wise, when he falleth to oppression, becometh like a beast.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Ecc 7:9 Be not hasty in thy spirit to…
Ecc 7:9 Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry: for anger resteth in the bosom of fools.
Ver. 9. Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry.] The hasty man, we say, never wants woe. For wrath is an evil counsellor, and enwrappeth a man in manifold troubles, mischiefs, and miseries. It makes man like the bee, that vindictive creature, which, to be revenged, loseth her sting, and becomes a drone; or, like Tamar, who, to be even with her father-in-law, defiled him and herself with incest. "Cease, therefore, from anger, and forsake wrath: fret not thyself in anywise to do evil." {Psa 37:8} Athenodorus counselled Augustus to determine nothing rashly, when he was angry, till he had repeated the Greek alphabet. Ambrose taught Theodosius, in that case, to repeat the Lord’s Prayer. What a shame it is to see a Christian act like Hercules furens, or like Solomon’s fool, that casts firebrands, or as that demoniac, {Mar 2:3} out of measure fierce! That demoniac was "among the tombs," but these are among the living, and molest those most that are nearest to them.
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For anger resteth in the bosom of fools.] Rush it may into a wise man’s bosom, but not rest there, lodge there, dwell there; and only where it dwells it domineers, and that is only where a fool is master of the family. Thunder, hail, tempest, neither trouble nor hurt celestial bodies. See that the sun go not down upon this evil guest: see that the soul be not soured or impured with it, for anger corrupts the heart, as leaven doth the lump, or vinegar the vessel wherein it doth continue. {a}
{a} Aug., epist. 87.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Be not angry with any man without due consideration,…
Be not angry with any man without due consideration, and just and necessary cause; for otherwise anger is sometimes lawful, and sometimes a duty.
Resteth; hath its settled and quiet abode, is their constant companion, ever at hand upon all occasions, whereas wise men resist, and mortify, and banish it.
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In the bosom; in the heart, the proper seat of the passions.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry,....…
Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry,.... With men, for every word that is said, or action done, that is not agreeable; encourage not, but repress, sudden angry emotions of the mind; be not quick of resentment, and at once express anger and displeasure; but be slow to wrath, for such a man is better than the mighty, Jam 1:19, Pro 16:32; or with God, for his corrections and chastisements; so the Targum,
"in the time that correction from heaven comes upon thee, do not hasten in thy soul to be hot (or angry) to say words of rebellion (or stubbornness) against heaven;''
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that advice is good,
"do nothing in anger (l);''
for anger resteth in the bosom of fools; where it riseth quick, and continues long; here it soon betrays itself, and finds easy admittance, and a resting dwelling place; it easily gets in, but it is difficult to get it out of the heart of a fool; both which are proofs of his folly, Pro 12:16; see Eph 4:26; the bosom, or breast, is commonly represented as the seat of anger by other writers (m).
(l) Isocrates ad Nicoclem, p. 36. (m) "In pectoribus ira considit", Petronius; "iram sanguinei regio sub pectore cordis", Claudian. de 4. Consul. Honor. Panegyr. v. 241.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 9. Anger resteth in the bosom of fools.]…
Verse 9. Anger resteth in the bosom of fools.] A wise man, off his guard, may feel it for a moment: but in him it cannot rest: it is a fire which he immediately casts out of his breast. But the fool - the man who is under the dominion of his own tempers, harbours and fosters it, till it takes the form of malice, and then excites him to seek full revenge on those whom he deems enemies. Hence that class of dangerous and empty fools called duellists.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Speech. Hebrew, "thing." The best projects often are seen…
Speech. Hebrew, "thing." The best projects often are seen to fail. --- Beginning, as the auditor is on longer kept in suspense. --- Presumptuous. Rashness must not be confounded with courage. (Calmet) --- Hasty and immoderate anger is hurtful. (Worthington)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain angry--impatient at adversity befalling thee, as Job was (Ecc…
angry--impatient at adversity befalling thee, as Job was (Ecc 5:2; Pro 12:16).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 9. Be not hasty… angry — This exhortation comes…
9. Be not hasty… angry — This exhortation comes as an inference from the foregoing remarks. Even an enemy may tell us some things good for us to know, much more, then, should we welcome the “faithful wounds” — the honest rebukes — of a friend. Only a fool would be angry at wholesome reproof. But how natural it is to be in this more or less foolish!
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 9. Be not hasty in thy spirit to be…
9. Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry] From sins of speech in general, the teacher passes on to that which is the source from which they most often flow. Anger, alike from the Stoic and Epicurean stand-point (and the writer, as we have seen, had points of contact with each of them), was the note of unwisdom. If it be right at all, it is when it is calm and deliberate, an indignation against moral evil. The hasty anger of wounded self-love is, as in the teaching of the Sermon on the Mount (Mat_5:22), destructive of the tranquillity of true wisdom, and, transient and impulsive as it seems at first, may harden “in the bosom of the fool” into a settled antipathy or malignant scorn.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (9) Resteth.—Pro_14:33.
(9) Resteth.—Pro_14:33.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry.…
Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry. A further warning against the arrogance which murmurs at Providence and revolts against the checks of the Divine arrangement. The injunction in Ecc_5:2 might be taken in this sense. It is not a general admonition against unrighteous anger, but is leveled at the haughty indignation which a proud man feels when things do not go as he wishes, and he deems that he could have managed matters more satisfactorily. For anger resteth in the bosom of fools. Such unreasonable displeasure is the mark of a foolish or skeptical mind, and if it rests, (Pro_14:33) is fostered and cherished there, may develop into misanthropy and atheism. If we adopt the rendering" word" in ver. 8, we may see in this injunction a warning against being quick to take offence at a rebuke, as it is only the fool who will not look to the object of the censure and see that it ought to be patiently submitted to. On the subject of anger St. Gregory writes, "As often as we restrain the turbulent motions of the mind under the virtue of mildness, we are essaying to return to the likeness of our Creator. For when the peace of mind is lashed with anger, torn and rent, as it were, it is thrown into confusion, so that it is not in harmony with itself, and loses the force of the inward likeness. By anger wisdom is parted with, so that we are left wholly in ignorance what to do; as it is written, "Anger resteth in the bosom of a fool," in this way, that it withdraws the light of understanding, while by agitating it troubles the mind" ("Moral.," 5:78).
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 7:9 anger labels you a fool: Cp. Prov 14:29;…
7:9 anger labels you a fool: Cp. Prov 14:29; 29:11; see “Anger” Theme Note.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.