Bible Strands
Proverbs 15:25
The LORD tears down the house of the proud, but He protects the boundaries of the widow.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The author of Proverbs addresses the reader with a wisdom maxim positioned between a warning about the wise man’s upward path (15:24) and a contrast regarding God’s reaction to human thoughts and words (15:26).
The words — The Hebrew יִסַּח (yi.Sach) literally means "he tears down," describing the destruction of the proud man's house, while גְּב֣וּל (ge.Vul) translates to "boundary" or "territory," indicating the protected limits of the widow.
The thread — This contrast between divine judgment on the arrogant and protection for the vulnerable appears in Psalms 146:9 and Psalms 68:5, where God is explicitly named as the sustainer of the widow and the defender of the oppressed.
Why it lands — The text states that God actively dismantles the structures of the arrogant while securing the legal and material boundaries of the widow, requiring the reader to recognize that divine justice operates through both destruction and preservation rather than passive observation.
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
The Lord will destroy the house of the proud: but he will establish the border of the widow.
Cross-references
- Psalms 146:9 The LORD protects foreigners; He sustains the fatherless and the widow, but the ways of the wicked He frustrates.
- Psalms 68:5 A father of the fatherless and a defender of widows is God in His holy habitation.
- Deuteronomy 10:17 For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, mighty, and awesome God, showing no partiality and accepting no bribe.
- Proverbs 12:7 The wicked are overthrown and perish, but the house of the righteous will stand.
- Proverbs 14:11 The house of the wicked will be destroyed, but the tent of the upright will flourish.
- Proverbs 23:10 Do not move an ancient boundary stone or encroach on the fields of the fatherless,
- Isaiah 2:12 For the Day of the LORD of Hosts will come against all the proud and lofty, against all that is exalted—it will be humbled—
- Daniel 5:20 But when his heart became arrogant and his spirit was hardened with pride, he was deposed from his royal throne, and his glory was taken from him.
- James 1:27 Pure and undefiled religion before our God and Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
- Job 40:11 Unleash the fury of your wrath; look on every proud man and bring him low.