Bible Strands
Proverbs 15:18
A hot-tempered man stirs up strife, but he who is slow to anger calms dispute.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Wisdom instruction, likely Solomon's teaching, placed between a contrast of love and hatred (15:17) and a contrast of the slacker and the upright (15:19). No specific historical occasion is named.
The words — חֵמָה (chemah, "rage") names the sudden heat, while אֶרֶךְ אַפַּיִם (erekh appayim, literally "long of anger") names the opposite disposition as a length, not a mere absence of heat. The verbs יְגָרֶה (yegareh, "he stirs up") and יַשְׁקִיט (yashkit, "he makes quiet") frame the two men as active agents, not passive temperaments.
The thread — Proverbs 15:1 pairs a gentle answer with turning away wrath against a harsh word that stirs anger; Proverbs 26:21 likens a quarrelsome man to charcoal for embers; Proverbs 29:22 says an angry man stirs up dissension.
Why it lands — The verse assigns agency: the hot-tempered man is the one who starts the fight, and the slow-to-anger man is the one who ends it. It asks the reader to see their own temper as a tool they wield, not a weather system that happens to them.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
A wrathful man stirreth up strife: but he that is slow to anger appeaseth strife.
Cross-references
- Proverbs 15:1 A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.
- Proverbs 26:21 Like charcoal for embers and wood for fire, so is a quarrelsome man for kindling strife.
- Proverbs 29:22 An angry man stirs up dissension, and a hot-tempered man abounds in transgression.
- Matthew 5:9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.
- Proverbs 14:29 A patient man has great understanding, but a quick-tempered man promotes folly.
- Ecclesiastes 10:4 If the ruler’s temper flares against you, do not abandon your post, for calmness lays great offenses to rest.
- James 1:19 My beloved brothers, understand this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger,
- Proverbs 10:12 Hatred stirs up dissension, but love covers all transgressions.
- Proverbs 16:28 A perverse man spreads dissension, and a gossip divides close friends.
- Proverbs 28:25 A greedy man stirs up strife, but he who trusts in the LORD will prosper.