Bible Strands
Proverbs 18:19
An offended brother is harder to win than a fortified city, and disputes are like the bars of a castle.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The wise author addresses a general audience within a practical manual, placing this verse between counsel on using lots to end quarrels and a warning about how speech nourishes the soul.
The words — נִפְשָׁע (nif.sha') means "transgressed" or "offended," describing a brother who has been wronged, while אַרְמֹן ('ar.mon) literally translates to "fortress," establishing the physical comparison for reconciliation.
The thread — The difficulty of mending fractured fellowship runs through Proverbs 6:19 regarding one who stirs up discord among brothers, Acts 15:39 where a sharp disagreement forces Paul and Barnabas apart, and Proverbs 16:32 which contrasts this obstacle with the superiority of controlled temper.
Why it lands — The text states that a wronged brother requires more effort to reconcile than capturing a fortified city, and it warns that disputes function as immovable castle bars blocking resolution, demanding immediate and deliberate peacemaking.
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 brother offended is harder to be won than a strong city: and their contentions are like the bars of a castle.
Cross-references
- Proverbs 16:32 He who is slow to anger is better than a warrior, and he who controls his temper is greater than one who captures a city.
- Acts 15:39 Their disagreement was so sharp that they parted company. Barnabas took Mark and sailed for Cyprus,
- Proverbs 6:19 a false witness who gives false testimony, and one who stirs up discord among brothers.
- Genesis 37:3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than his other sons, because Joseph had been born to him in his old age; so he made him a robe of many colors.
- 1 Kings 12:16 When all Israel saw that the king had refused to listen to them, they answered the king: “What portion do we have in David, and what inheritance in the son of Jesse? To your tents, O Israel! Look now to your own house, O David!” So the Israelites went home,
- Genesis 4:5 but He had no regard for Cain and his offering. So Cain became very angry, and his countenance fell.
- Genesis 27:41 Esau held a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing his father had given him. And Esau said in his heart, “The days of mourning for my father are at hand; then I will kill my brother Jacob.”
- Genesis 32:6 When the messengers returned to Jacob, they said, “We went to your brother Esau, and now he is coming to meet you—he and four hundred men with him.”
- Genesis 37:18 Now Joseph’s brothers saw him in the distance, and before he arrived, they plotted to kill him.
- 2 Samuel 13:22 And Absalom never said a word to Amnon, either good or bad, because he hated Amnon for violating his sister Tamar.