Bible Strands
Proverbs 25:8
do not bring hastily to court. Otherwise, what will you do in the end when your neighbor puts you to shame?
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The instruction sits within a wisdom collection addressing practical conduct, placed directly between advice on deferring to a ruler (25:7) and guidelines for handling neighborly disputes (25:9). It addresses a reader considering legal action against another person.
The words — מַ֫הֵ֥ר (ma.Her) = quickly, paired with פֶּ֣ן (pen) = lest, structurally frame the warning against rushing into a lawsuit.
The thread — This caution against hasty conflict appears in Matthew 5:25, which urges reconciliation before court, and Proverbs 17:14, which compares starting a quarrel to releasing a flood. Proverbs 18:6 similarly notes that a fool’s words invite strife.
Why it lands — The text demands a pause before initiating litigation, forcing the reader to weigh the risk of public humiliation and loss of control when the outcome remains uncertain.
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
Go not forth hastily to strive, lest thou know not what to do in the end thereof, when thy neighbour hath put thee to shame.
Cross-references
- Matthew 5:25 Reconcile quickly with your adversary, while you are still on the way to court. Otherwise, he may hand you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and you may be thrown into prison.
- Proverbs 17:14 To start a quarrel is to release a flood; so abandon the dispute before it breaks out.
- Proverbs 18:6 A fool’s lips bring him strife, and his mouth invites a beating.
- Proverbs 14:12 There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.
- Proverbs 30:33 For as the churning of milk yields butter, and the twisting of the nose draws blood, so the stirring of anger brings forth strife.”
- 2 Samuel 2:26 Then Abner called out to Joab: “Must the sword devour forever? Do you not realize that this will only end in bitterness? How long before you tell the troops to stop pursuing their brothers?”
- Jeremiah 5:31 The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule by their own authority. My people love it so, but what will you do in the end?
- Luke 14:31 Or what king on his way to war with another king will not first sit down and consider whether he can engage with ten thousand men the one coming against him with twenty thousand?
- 2 Samuel 2:14 Then Abner said to Joab, “Let us have the young men get up and compete before us.” “Let them get up,” Joab replied.
- 2 Kings 14:8 Then Amaziah sent messengers to the king of Israel Jehoash son of Jehoahaz, the son of Jehu. “Come, let us meet face to face,” he said.