Proverbs 27:4

4 Wrath is cruel, anger is overwhelming, but who is able to stand before jealousy?

Proverbs 27:4 Meaning and Commentary

Proverbs 27:4

Wrath [is] cruel, and anger [is] outrageous
Or "an inundation" F24; it is like the breaking in of the sea, or a flood of mighty waters, which know no bounds, and there is no stopping them: so cruel and outrageous were the wrath and anger of Simeon and Levi, in destroying the Shechemites; of Pharaoh, in making the Israelites to serve with hard bondage, and ordering their male children to be killed and drowned; and of Herod, in murdering the infants in and about Bethlehem;

but who [is] able to stand before envy?
which is secret in a man's heart, and privately contrives and works the ruin of another, and against which there no guarding. All mankind in Adam fell before the envy of Satan; for it was through the envy of the devil that sin and death came into the world, in the Apocrypha:

``Nevertheless through envy of the devil came death into the world: and they that do hold of his side do find it.'' (Wisdom 2:24)

Abel could not stand before the envy of Cain; nor Joseph before the envy of his brethren; nor Christ before the envy of the Jews, his bitter enemies; and, where it is, there is confusion and every evil work, ( James 3:14 James 3:16 ) . An envious man is worse than an angry and wrathful man; his wrath and anger may be soon over, or there may be ways and means of appeasing him; but envy continues and abides, and works insensibly.


FOOTNOTES:

F24 (Pjv) "inundatio", Michaelis, so Montanus, Vatablus, Tigurine version, "exundatio", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; "inundatio salcans", Schultens.

Proverbs 27:4 In-Context

2 Let another praise you, and not your own mouth— a stranger, and not your own lips.
3 A stone is heavy, and sand is weighty, but a fool's provocation is heavier than both.
4 Wrath is cruel, anger is overwhelming, but who is able to stand before jealousy?
5 Better is open rebuke than hidden love.
6 Well meant are the wounds a friend inflicts, but profuse are the kisses of an enemy.
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.