Bible Strands
Proverbs 27:4
Wrath is cruel and anger is like a flood, but who can withstand jealousy?
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The wisdom writer addresses a general audience within a collection of practical instructions, positioning this saying between a comparison of physical burdens and a directive on open correction.
The words — קִנְאָה (kin.'Ah) translates to jealousy, and שֶׁטֶף (She.tef) literally means flood or raging torrent.
The thread — The text's claim that jealousy overwhelms other destructive emotions runs through Proverbs 6:34, Proverbs 14:30, and James 3:14.
Why it lands — The text states that jealousy exceeds even wrath and flood-like anger in destructive force, demanding the reader treat it as an unconquerable power that requires direct resistance.
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
Wrath is cruel, and anger is outrageous; but who is able to stand before envy?
Cross-references
- Proverbs 6:34 For jealousy enrages a husband, and he will show no mercy in the day of vengeance.
- Proverbs 14:30 A tranquil heart is life to the body, but envy rots the bones.
- James 3:14 But if you harbor bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast in it or deny the truth.
- Job 5:2 For resentment kills a fool, and envy slays the simple.
- Matthew 27:18 For he knew it was out of envy that they had handed Jesus over to him.
- Acts 7:9 Because the patriarchs were jealous of Joseph, they sold him as a slave into Egypt. But God was with him
- 1 John 3:12 Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did Cain slay him? Because his own deeds were evil, while those of his brother were righteous.
- Genesis 26:14 He owned so many flocks and herds and servants that the Philistines envied him.
- Genesis 37:11 And his brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept in mind what he had said.
- Song of Solomon 8:6 Set me as a seal over your heart, as a seal upon your arm. For love is as strong as death, its jealousy as unrelenting as Sheol. Its sparks are fiery flames, the fiercest blaze of all.