15:1 A soft answer turns away wrath,
but a harsh word stirs up anger.
2 The tongue of the wise commends knowledge,
but the mouths of fools pour out folly.
3 The eyes of the Lord are in every place,
keeping watch on the evil and the good.
4 A gentle tongue is a tree of life,
but perverseness in it breaks the spirit.
5 A fool despises his father’s instruction,
but whoever heeds reproof is prudent.
6 In the house of the righteous there is much treasure,
but trouble befalls the income of the wicked.
7 The lips of the wise spread knowledge;
not so the hearts of fools.
8 The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord,
but the prayer of the upright is acceptable to him.
9 The way of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord,
but he loves him who pursues righteousness.
10 There is severe discipline for him who forsakes the way;
whoever hates reproof will die.
11 Sheol and Abaddon lie open before the Lord;
how much more the hearts of the children of man!
12 A scoffer does not like to be reproved;
he will not go to the wise.
13 A glad heart makes a cheerful face,
but by sorrow of heart the spirit is crushed.
14 The heart of him who has understanding seeks knowledge,
but the mouths of fools feed on folly.
15 All the days of the afflicted are evil,
but the cheerful of heart has a continual feast.
16 Better is a little with the fear of the Lord
than great treasure and trouble with it.
17 Better is a dinner of herbs where love is
than a fattened ox and hatred with it.
18 A hot-tempered man stirs up strife,
but he who is slow to anger quiets contention.
19 The way of a sluggard is like a hedge of thorns,
but the path of the upright is a level highway.
20 A wise son makes a glad father,
but a foolish man despises his mother.
21 Folly is a joy to him who lacks sense,
but a man of understanding walks straight ahead.
22 Without counsel plans fail,
but with many advisers they succeed.
23 To make an apt answer is a joy to a man,
and a word in season, how good it is!
24 The path of life leads upward for the prudent,
that he may turn away from Sheol beneath.
25 The Lord tears down the house of the proud
but maintains the widow’s boundaries.
26 The thoughts of the wicked are an abomination to the Lord,
but gracious words are pure.
27 Whoever is greedy for unjust gain troubles his own household,
but he who hates bribes will live.
28 The heart of the righteous ponders how to answer,
but the mouth of the wicked pours out evil things.
29 The Lord is far from the wicked,
but he hears the prayer of the righteous.
30 The light of the eyes rejoices the heart,
and good news refreshes the bones.
31 The ear that listens to life-giving reproof
will dwell among the wise.
32 Whoever ignores instruction despises himself,
but he who listens to reproof gains intelligence.
33 The fear of the Lord is instruction in wisdom,
and humility comes before honor. (ESV)
Acts 3
Acts 2
Acts 1
Luke 24
Luke 23
Luke 22
Luke 21
Luke 20
Luke 19
Luke 18
15 All the days of the oppressed are wretched, but the cheerful heart has a continual feast.
I love the imagery in the second half of this verse. We Christians have the best reason to be cheerful becasue we have a eternal hope of life and a relationship with our glorious Creator. Everyday on earth becomes a new day or “meal” to savor and live fully for the glory of God; when we have a cheerful heart that is grounded in the joyfull Truth of the Word this becomes possible. So next time I feel depresed I am going to remember this verse and how much i have to be thankfull for and how much i have been saved from.
1 A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.
This verse is so true, but it takes so much self-control to give a gentle answer when you’re annoyed! About the same amount it takes to love your enemies. Try putting this verse into practice at home, and it will make living with your parents and siblings a lot easier over the summer. You will also be developing patience, humilty and self-control, not to mention pleasing God and your family.
5 A fool spurns his father’s discipline, but whoever heeds correction shows prudence.
None of us want to be “fools,” and yet how many of us have, at times, belittled or spurned our father’s discipline? This is a good verse to remember when disciplined in the future–if we listen to the correction and don’t “spurn” the discipline, we can fit into the “wise” category of Proverbs, rather than the “fool” category.
3 The eyes of the LORD are everywhere, keeping watch on the wicked and the good.
God sees everything, and we need to make sure that we are living for him and bringing glory to the Lord! This verse seems almost scary. If you sin, God sees that! This verse is encouraging, and motivates me to have more self-control, and to stop sinning! Because I do not want to be part of the wicked!
4 The tongue that brings healing is a tree of life, but a deceitful tongue crushes the spirit
The tongue is very powerful. It can either build something up, or destroy them. We need to all think before we speak. Because something we say could be sinful, and destroy another person with what we say. The words that come out of our mouths should be encouraging, helpful for building others up according to their needs. Which reminds me of Ephesians 4:29!
1 A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.
This verse is such a life lesson for me! It reminds me alot of Romans 12 and living at peace with all men…. I once heard someone say, its not what happens to you but how you react that makes all the difference. This verse couldn’t have proved that any more true. No matter what, if you respond to a negative situation in a positive manner, the outcome will most likely come out much better then if you had retaliated in a negative or sinful way. This also will greatly show the light of christ thru your actions to others…they will see that way that you respond and will be like “wow, something is different out you…” and THAT would be a great way to open doors for the Gospel to be shared =)
28 The heart of the righteous weighs its answers, but the mouth of the wicked gushes evil.
A wise person thinks before speaking. That should be the way we talk. Before the words come out of our mouth, we need to knowif they are worth saying. If they aren’t building others up or saying something good, then we shouldn’t say it at all. It says in verse 28 that the mouth of the wicked gushes evil. They are constantly saying bad things and cussing and bringing others down. But as Christians, we need to weigh our words before we speak them to know if they are righteous or not.
10 Stern discipline awaits him who leaves the path; he who hates correction will die.
The second part of this verse really stood out for me. Correction and discipline are never pleasant, but they are also necessary in our lives. As Christians, we should welcome discipline and repent of what we were doing wrong. But too often, our pride and anger keeps us from responding the way we should. This verse shows the consequences of that in very simple terms: He who hates correction will die. When we are disciplined, we need to see it as God working in our lives to correct our paths and respond with obedience to Him.
19 The way of the sluggard is blocked with thorns, but the path of the upright is a highway.
The path of the upright is a highway, and we need to make sure that we do not stray from this path in the lazy days of summer. Continually strive to obey God’s commands and grow deeper into His word else you stray to the thorny path of the sluggard.
1 A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.
To me, this is one of those verses that you want on a note-card and propped up on your desk so you can see it daily! So often, when we get flustered or angered about something, our sinful reaction is to yell back or to answer in a way that isn’t righteous and doesn’t bring God glory. This doesn’t help the situation. If it’s hard for us to reply with a gentle answer, we need to stop what we’re doing and pray immediatly asking God to help us watch our tongues and answer in a way that pleases Him. And as Jacob said, this is a perfect way to reflect the light of Jesus in our lives. Your actions say a lot about you. It’s good to stop and think about if they are glorifying God or not.
1 A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.
This verse has also become a life verse for me. Another reminder of how powerful our words can be. We seem to quickly choose our words without being wise in how we see them or what we are saying. We react out of emotion rather then out of Godliness. Let this verse be a convicting encouragment to each of us to speak with gentleness and love and to choose our words wisely.
NEW BLOG btw.
1 A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.
This verse just reminds me of when I tried to practice evangelizing the word to my bible teacher at school. It was pretty tough to do because he acted like he was a homeless guy who hated Jesus so much. So we as the Christians had to be really careful not to say the wrong thing. Then I remember my partner got a little mad at him for hating Jesus and not reading his Bible, and I right there I knew that that was the wrong thing to say. If you say something harsh to someone, then that will just stir up anger in that person. That is the wrong way to get into a conversation. But if just say gentle things and be calm about it, then the person won’t be so angry. He can actually turn away from his wrath.
These Proverbs are packed with a lot of wisdom and it’s neat to remember things that stood out in these to me as I read them growing up and to see the new things that stand out to me and are helpful as I read it today.
The verse I’ll comment on is, “The eyes of the LORD are everywhere, keeping watch on the wicked and the good.”
It’s folly to think that we can get away with anything without the Lord knowing about it because He is always there keeping watch on us.
DANG Proverbs just keeps bringing it day after day… This was a really good chapter. The thing that popped out to me was that it kept repeating time after time that we need to except rebuke and discipline. It states this in many verses. It starts in verse 5 A fool spurns his father’s discipline, but whoever heeds correction shows prudence.
so it says that a fool spurns discipline but whoever takes it shows prudence.
Also in verse 10 Stern discipline awaits him who leaves the path; he who hates correction will die. this just shows how essential it is to take correction and discipline. It says that if you hate correction you will die.. Pretty intense.
And also at the end of the chapter it talks about this in verse 32
32 He who ignores discipline despises himself, but whoever heeds correction gains understanding.
Its pretty crazy it says that if we ignore discipline we despise ourselves. But if we heed correction we gain understanding.
So this chapter really stressed the point to me that when we get rebuked or corrected that we should take it with a thankful heart and be grateful and not ignore it.
WOW! this chapter is so packed!
1 A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.
This verse really stuck out to me. It is soo convicting and soo true.
It is so much easier to lash back and say something hurtful but that causes more problems. It is harder to give a gentle answer but it causes no conflict. This definitely takes a lot of patience!
(:
† 8 The LORD detests the sacrifice of the wicked, but the prayer of the upright pleases him. †
† 29 The LORD is far from the wicked but he hears the prayer of the righteous. †
I really liked both of these verses because they touch on the importance of prayer. Do we realize that when we pray to Him, HE IS PLEASED! That was really convicting to me. When I’m not praying, I’m not pleasing God. And what’s awesome about prayer is not only does he find it pleasing, HE LISTENS to us. The God of the entire universe, who made the heavens and earth, listens to us measly humans. I think we take that so for granted, just throwing up prayers like “well yeah God’s gonna hear me.” Let’s meditate on how awesome it is that when we live righteously for the LORD, he hears our prayers and is pleased with them! What a loving God we serve!!!
1 A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.
This verse is so worth memorizing! It’s so encouragingly convicting (if that’s a word)! Oh and it is intense! “A harsh word stirs up anger,” wow, how true is that! It is so easy to get caught up in an argument or something and to just, like Anna said, lash back and be totally rude. This verse to me is an encouragement to be more patient with what I say and how I react to different situations, which is also self-control. So this verse is like a double-whammy.. getting us to work on patience and self-control!
Totally diggin Proverbs!!! [:
23 A man finds joy in giving an apt reply— and how good is a timely word!
This is a great exhortation that I need to take a moment to consider my answer to other’s questions, because there is joy in giving the clear, concise Biblical answer at just the right time. This definitely means we need to know God’s Word well, so it will always be on the tip of our tongues for that right reply!
12 A mocker resents correction; he will not consult the wise.
there have been so many times in Proverbs where it talks about how fools ignore the wise and resent their advice. we should always be keen to advice and encouragement, because not only will it help our walk with Christ, it will improve others by the things we spread. we should always be open to rebuking and advice, no matter how much it hurts it will make us stronger and more wise
A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.
I love this verse and what Shane said! That is so cool Shane that you get to practice evangelism and that you have the Scriptures saturated in your mind so you are thinking of them during you evangelism times. May we all understand and discerne those times when we need to respond with a getle answer like Shane
32 He who ignores discipline despises himself, but whoever heeds correction gains understanding.
I used to think when I was a kid that when my Dad disiplined me it was because he hated me. Obviously he didn’t hate me, but he disiplined me because he loved me. I learned from his disipline. When I did something wrong he would punish me because he wanted me to learn that what I was doing was wrong. I definitely learned from his punishments. He made me what I am today. If I ignored the disipline I would of been a depressed wild child. DISIPLINE IS GOOD!!
8 The LORD detests the sacrifice of the wicked, but the prayer of the upright pleases him.
9 The LORD detests the way of the wicked but he loves those who pursue righteousness.
I was watching the news and they took a survey on wether people believe all faiths lead to eternal life. Sme 90 percent of christians(or so they say) said yes, all faiths lead to God. This verse clearly points out how the sacrifice of the wicked is detestible to God. We were all wicked until Christ paid for our sins. Christ is the only way.
32 He who ignores discipline despises himself, but whoever heeds correction gains understanding.
Luke that is so true. The same thing with my dad when I wasn’t a christian; now we read through proverbs together and my dad points out that he is disciplining me for my best. Its great that you think that way Praise the LORD!!!
8 A hot-tempered man stirs up dissension, but a patient man calms a quarrel.
This verse is encourages me to hold my temper when I get frustrated as it obviously doesn’t do much good. I will work on my patience and count my blessings.
6 The house of the righteous contains great treasure, but the income of the wicked brings them trouble.
Here on earth it may not always seem like the righteous have much wealth. We are persecuted and mocked, but that is where we get our treasure. Matthew 5:11-12 says, “Bless are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” We may not have all the riches of this world, but they are worthless anyways. What is really important is what we will get in heaven. There will be no tears, no pain, it will be perfect because we will be living in a place that is up to God’s standards not our own.
20 A wise son brings joy to his father, but a foolish man despises his mother.
This is a great reminder to us. Even though we keep the faith we tend to forget about honoring our parents. I struggle with this constantly. But the Bible clearly states that we should honor our parents. Not honor only christian parents or parents who believe that there is a God but we are to honor our parents, no matter what their relegion is. We are to bring them joy and obey them whole heartedly. And doing this is a sign of wisdom.
3 The eyes of the LORD are everywhere, keeping watch on the wicked and the good.
Sometimes I like to open a few tabs to look at different web pages easily. Maybe if I am really talking with people or getting around I will have four or five open. To think that God is seeing everyone and everything that they are doing. This is mind-blowing to consider He has that kind of perception. Talk about accountability! I definitely want to be the good that He is pleased with and not the wicked who displease Him.
Wow! What a great chapter!
10.) Stern discipline awaits him who leaves the path; he who hates correction will die.
This is an intense verse! I guess we had better listen to correction and apply it to our lives or………….we’ll die.
15 All the days of the oppressed are wretched, but the cheerful heart has a continual feast.
Praise the Lord for salvation through Jesus Christ! Through Him, we no longer have to experience the anguish of being in sin. Nonchristians dont have the hope of future like we do, and even if they experience good things here and there, they cannot experience true joy and peace because they are in a state of hostility with their God and Creator. When we get anxious or depressed, we need to remind ourselves of how we have been saved and rejoice that we live in sin no longer but have a relationship with our Lord. But when we fill ourmind with other thoughts, we can become distracted and get down because of present circumstances. I know that I especially have to make sure that my mind is fully concentrated on God all day long, so that I will be rejoicing as I see Him working through my life instead of become depressed at present circumstances when they do not fit the desires of my distracted mind.
33 The fear of the LORD teaches a man wisdom, and humility comes before honor.
the part i liked was the second half… “humility comes before honor.”
thats just the opposite of the pride before the fall saying and the truth of it is suprisingly accurate. those who put others above themselves will not only be rewarded greatly in the new jerusalem but God also blesses them with tangible honors as well…
this verse also made me think of philippians 2… and the example of Christ’s humility. that always is convicting and humbling in itself seeing how insignificant our complaints compare with Christ’s sacrifice….
15 All the days of the oppressed are wretched, but the cheerful heart has a continual feast.
This verse describes cheerful people as having a continual feast. I know that when I am really happy, it seems to build off itself, being happy just makes me more happy. As Hunter said, we as Christians have the best reason to be cheerful, we’ve been saved by Christ! Lets be joyful in that and be in continual feast!
A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.
and also I am going to have to chooose this verse along with everyone else haha and something that needs to be learned!
Just like what it talks about in colossians and so many other areas in the bible, we need not to rebuke harshly, but with Love, for this pleases the Lord!
29 The LORD is far from the wicked but he hears the prayer of the righteous.
We get the reassurance that the Lord will hear all of His children’s’ prayers and that we can come before Him with anything