Wrath is cruel, and anger is overwhelming; but who is able to stand before jealousy?
Parallel Translations
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Wrath is cruel, and anger is overwhelming; but who is able to stand before jealousy?
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Wrath is cruel, and anger is outrageous; but who is able to stand before envy?
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Wrath is cruel, and anger is overwhelming; but who is able to stand before jealousy?
Cross-references (15)
Passages linked to Proverbs 27:4 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Proverbs 6:34 For jealousy arouses the fury of the husband. He won’t spare in the day of vengeance.
- Proverbs 14:30 The life of the body is a heart at peace, but envy rots the bones.
- James 3:14-16 But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, don’t boast and don’t lie against the truth. This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, sensual, and demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition are, there is confusion and every evil deed.
- Job 5:2 For resentment kills the foolish man, and jealousy kills the simple.
- Matthew 27:18 For he knew that because of envy they had delivered him up.
- Acts 7:9 “The patriarchs, moved with jealousy against Joseph, sold him into Egypt. God was with him,
- 1 John 3:12 unlike 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.
- Genesis 26:14 He had possessions of flocks, possessions of herds, and a great household. The Philistines envied him.
- Genesis 37:11 His brothers envied him, but his father kept this saying in mind.
- Song of Solomon 8:6 Set me as a seal on your heart, as a seal on your arm; for love is strong as death. Jealousy is as cruel as Sheol. Its flashes are flashes of fire, a very flame of Yahweh.
- Acts 17:5 But the unpersuaded Jews took along some wicked men from the marketplace, and gathering a crowd, set the city in an uproar. Assaulting the house of Jason, they sought to bring them out to the people.
- James 4:5-6 Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, “The Spirit who lives in us yearns jealously”? But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”
- Acts 5:17 But the high priest rose up, and all those who were with him (which is the sect of the Sadducees), and they were filled with jealousy
- Romans 1:29 being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, malice; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil habits, secret slanderers,
- James 1:19-21 So, then, my beloved brothers, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger; for the anger of man doesn’t produce the righteousness of God. Therefore, putting away all filthiness and overflowing of wickedness, receive with humility the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (15 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain For the envious are obstinate, and cannot be reconciled.
For the envious are obstinate, and cannot be reconciled.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Pro 27:4 Wrath [is] cruel, and anger [is] outrageous;…
Pro 27:4 Wrath [is] cruel, and anger [is] outrageous; but who [is] able to stand before envy?
Ver. 4. Wrath is cruel, and anger is outrageous.] Or, Overflowing all the banks, or carrying all before it as an impetuous land flood, and therefore most intolerable, as Pro 27:3; but behold a worse matter: Envy is an evil that none can stand before for it knows neither end nor measure, as appears in the devil and his patriarch Cain; in Saul, the Pharisees, those spiteful Jews, Act 13:45. And to this day they do antiquum obtinere, bear the old grudge to us Christians, cursing us in their daily prayers, calling us bastard Gentiles, professing that if their Messiah were come, rather than we should have any part in him, or benefit by him, they would crucify him a hundred times over. They have a saying among them, Optimus qui inter gentes est dignus cui caput conteratur tanquam serpenti; The best of us Gentiles is worthy of the serpent’s punishment, viz., to have his head bruised, &c., so great is their envy still against Christians, who pity them and pray for them; and truly it is no more than need, since by the question here propounded we may easily guess how potent this quick sighted and sharp fanged malignity, envy, is; indeed the venom of all vices is found in it; neither will it be drawn to embrace that good which it envies to another, as too good for him. {Act 13:44-45}
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 Envy is worse than both of them, partly, because…
Envy is worse than both of them, partly, because it is more unjust and unreasonable, as not caused by any provocation, as wrath and anger are, but only proceeding from a malignity of mind, whereby a man is grieved for another man’s happiness, in which he should rejoice; partly, because it is more deeply rooted and implacable, whereas the other passions are commonly allayed; and partly, because it is more secret and undiscernible, and therefore the mischievous effects of it are hardly avoidable; whereas wrath and anger discover themselves, and so forewarn and forearm a man against the danger.
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 Wrath is cruel, and anger is outrageous,.... Or "an…
Wrath is cruel, and anger is outrageous,.... Or "an inundation" (x); it is like the breaking in of the sea, or a flood of mighty waters, which know no bounds, and there is no stopping them: so cruel and outrageous were the wrath and anger of Simeon and Levi, in destroying the Shechemites; of Pharaoh, in making the Israelites to serve with hard bondage, and ordering their male children to be killed and drowned; and of Herod, in murdering the infants in and about Bethlehem;
but who is able to stand before envy? which is secret in a man's heart, and privately contrives and works the ruin of another, and against which there no guarding. All mankind in Adam fell before the envy of Satan; for it was through the envy of the devil that sin and death came into the world, in the Apocrypha:
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"Nevertheless through envy of the devil came death into the world: and they that do hold of his side do find it.'' (Wisdom 2:24)
Abel could not stand before the envy of Cain; nor Joseph before the envy of his brethren; nor Christ before the envy of the Jews, his bitter enemies; and, where it is, there is confusion and every evil work, Jam 3:14. An envious man is worse than an angry and wrathful man; his wrath and anger may be soon over, or there may be ways and means of appeasing him; but envy continues and abides, and works insensibly.
(x) "inundatio", Michaelis, so Montanus, Vatablus, Tigurine version, "exundatio", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; "inundatio salcans", Schultens.
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 4. Who is able to stand before envy?]…
Verse 4. Who is able to stand before envy?] The rabbins have a curious story on this subject, and it has been formed by the moderns into a fable. There were two persons, one covetous and the other envious, to whom a certain person promised to grant whatever they should ask; but double to him who should ask last. The covetous man would not ask first, because he wished to get the double portion, and the envious man would not make the first request because he could not bear the thoughts of thus benefiting his neighbour. However, at last he requested that one of his eyes should be taken out, in order that his neighbour might lose both.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Pro 27:4. Wrath is cruel — And doth many…
Pro 27:4. Wrath is cruel — And doth many barbarous things; and anger is outrageous — Often depriving a man of the proper use of his reason, and hurrying him into many mischiefs and miseries; but who is able to stand before envy? — Envy is worse than both of them, 1st, Because it is more unjust and unreasonable, as not being caused by any provocation, as wrath and anger are; but proceeding from mere malignity of mind, whereby a man is grieved for another man’s happiness, in which he ought to rejoice; 2d, Because it is more deeply rooted and implacable, whereas the other passions are commonly allayed; and, 3d, Because it is more secret and undiscernible, and therefore the mischievous effects of it are hardly avoidable, whereas wrath and anger discover themselves, and so forewarn and forearm a man against danger.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Envy - Better, as in the margin, the violence…
Envy - Better, as in the margin, the violence of passion in the husband who thinks himself wronged (compare Pro 6:34).
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain And who. Septuagint, "but envy (zeal) beareth nothing." The…
And who. Septuagint, "but envy (zeal) beareth nothing." The more we yield to the envious, the more he is offended at our good behaviour.
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 envy--or, "jealousy" (compare Margin; Pro 6:34), is more unappeasable…
envy--or, "jealousy" (compare Margin; Pro 6:34), is more unappeasable than the simpler bad passions.
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 4. Anger is outrageous — Impetuous; an outpouring like…
4. Anger is outrageous — Impetuous; an outpouring like a rushing torrent.
Envy — קנאה, (kinah,) mostly rendered jealousy in our Version, but sometimes “envy.” The critics generally give the preference to jealousy here. By some, envy and jealousy are considered the same passion with different objects. Compare Pro_6:34-35.
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 4. envy] Rather, jealousy. Comp. Pro_6:34.
4. envy] Rather, jealousy. Comp. Pro_6:34.
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 (4) But who is able to stand before envy?—Rather,…
(4) But who is able to stand before envy?—Rather, jealousy. (Comp. Pro_6:34.) “Wrath” and “anger” rage for awhile like a storm, and then subside; but jealousy can never be completely set at rest.
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 Wrath is cruel, and anger is outrageous. Again substantives…
Wrath is cruel, and anger is outrageous. Again substantives are used, as in ver. 3, "Cruelty of wrath, and overflowing of anger." Figure to yourself the fierceness and cruelty of a sudden excitement of anger, or the bursting forth of passion which, like a flood, carries all before it; these may be violent for a time, yet they will subside when they have spent themselves. But who is able to stand before envy? or rather, jealousy. The reference is not so much to the general feeling of envy as to the outraged love in the relation of husband and wife. (see Pro_6:34, and note there) Son_8:6, "Love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave: the flashes thereof are flashes of fire, a very vehement flame." Such jealousy does not blaze forth in some sudden outbreak, and then die away; it lives and broods and feeds itself hourly with fresh aliment, and is ready to act at any moment, hesitating at no means to gratify itself, and sacrificing without mercy its victim. Septuagint, "Pitiless is wrath, and sharp is anger; but jealousy (zhlov ) submits to nothing."
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain Wrath is cruel, and anger is outrageous; but who…
Pro_27:4
Wrath is cruel, and anger is outrageous; but who is able to stand before envy?
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Anger and envy
I. The evil principles indicated in the text are extensively and dangerously prevalent. To be irritated and out of temper is one of the common tendencies of our nature, manifested even in childhood. The root is wrath, anger. This pernicious root grows differently in different natures, and with more or less vigour. This vicious principle is generally regarded too complacently, as though it were a necessary part of our nature. Wrath is dangerous. Its tendency is to increase. The spark will rise into a flame. The intensity of anger depends upon external circumstances, and also upon the condition of our health. The external exciting causes are continually changing. The foolish vice of irritating the temper of others is too common. Some like to torment the susceptible. Others are perpetually fault-finding and sneering. Envy is the condition of one who looks upon the happiness of another and longs to possess it. Envy generally seeks to conceal itself, and to work in secret and in darkness. Passion would strike down its victim in the public market-place, whilst envy would carefully weigh out and mix the poison for its victim to consume unconsciously in his food. This dangerous and deadly principle has extensive existence. Envy is the development of germs which are universally diffused. Then search into the very depths of your nature after the most minute germs of this evil.
II. Wherein Lies our safety against the growth and development of these principles? There may be lurking in our nature forces which need to be held in check by a stronger power than mere intellectual culture. Our higher civilisation too often only gilds crime, and throws its mantle over it. A formal profession of religion may cover the vilest lusts of humanity. There is a higher power. Christianity offers a Divine power by which the evil nature may be purified and every evil passion brought into subjection. Our safety, our only safety, lies in the renewal and sanctification of our nature by the Holy Ghost. Separated from the conscious presence of Christ, and destitute of His renewing grace and protecting providence, who can tell into what mischief we may fall! (Robert Ann.)
The sin of envy
The envious man is far blacker than the passionate man; for the outrageous behaviour of an angry person sounds an alarm to his neighbour to be on his guard, but the envious man conceals his malignity till he has a fit opportunity to strike a mortal blow without danger of missing his aim. The one is a dog, that barks before he bites, the other is an adder in the grass, that stings the traveller when he is dreading no hurt; for the malice of the envious man is generally unsuspected, because no occasion was given for it. It is the good and happiness of the envied object that excited his malignity, and he does not so much as pretend that he has received any provocation. (George Lawson, D.D.)
The nature and mischief of envy
The wise man compares envy with two very exorbitant commotions of mans mind, wrath and anger. Worse than these, more unkind and uncharitable, more unjust, violent and mischievous, is envy. There is neither any goodness, nor yet any strength, that is a sufficient guard against it.
1. There is no mans innocency, no mans virtue, that can secure him from the direful strokes of envy. Sometimes a mans goodness actually inflames the hearts of the envious. See case of Cain and Abel; of Esau; of the brethren of Joseph; of Saul, etc. The greatest instance of all is the envy of Scribes and Pharisees against our Saviour.
2. There is no man so great and powerful, or of so secure an estate or fortune, but the violence of envy hath been capable of overthrowing him. Illustrate case of Abner.
I. A just description of envy. It is a displeasure or trouble arising in a mans mind from the sight or knowledge of another mans prosperity, and causing a man to hate such person, and try to ruin him. It commonly arises on the sight of the prosperity of inferiors or equals. Men envy that to others which they think themselves as well or better to deserve. They seldom envy things or persons that are much above them. Distinguish envy from emulation. Illustrate by these two qualities in Saul and Jonathan, on the occasion of Davids killing Goliath. Emulation is a great and noble virtue, envy a poor and sneaking vice. It is always hiding itself. No man will own himself to be envious. He disguises it under a mighty pretended zeal for the truth; or a great love for the public welfare; or a charitable concern for the credit of his neighbour. How few men are wholly free from this vice.
II. The mischievous effects produced by envy. See these, that we may be more set against it; that we may avoid it ourselves; that we may beware of it in others; that we may use our utmost endeavours to quench this flame. Disturbances in the state, schism in the Church, and trouble in a neighbourhood, or in a private family, are generally traceable to envy. To what end is all this evil done by envious men? What do they get by it? Envy is its own punishment. No man can find a greater torment for an envious man than he inflicts upon himself. Even if it succeeds in pulling down a man, it very rarely gets into his place. How is it that God endures, and seems to leave alone, these mischief-making, envious men? They are agents in doing His disciplinary work in His people. It makes men self-watchful. The envious quickly light upon and show up faults that we might have passed over. The envious calumniate failings, not virtues. Remedies are--
1. A right apprehension of the things of this world.
2. A due submission to the will of God.
3. A true humility.
4. A Christian charity.
This last plucks it up by the very roots; and plants in our hearts what is most contrary thereto. (Jonathan Blagrave, D.D.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 27:4 Anger can be dangerous but can be countered…
27:4 Anger can be dangerous but can be countered with a gentle answer (15:1). Jealousy is harder to resolve (6:34-35).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.