Proverbs 25:8

8 do not bring^[a] hastily to court, for what will you do in the end if your neighbor puts you to shame?

Proverbs 25:8 in Other Translations

8 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.

8 do not hastily bring into court, for what will you do in the end, when your neighbor puts you to shame?

8 don’t be in a hurry to go to court. For what will you do in the end if your neighbor deals you a shameful defeat?

8 Don't jump to conclusions - there may be a perfectly good explanation for what you just saw.

8 Don't take a matter to court hastily. Otherwise, what will you do afterwards if your opponent humiliates you?

Proverbs 25:8 Meaning and Commentary

Proverbs 25:8

Go not forth hastily to strive
To go to law with a neighbour; think well of it beforehand; consider the nature of the cause, whether right or wrong; or whether it is a matter of such moment as to go to law about; whether it will not be deemed a frivolous and vexatious suit; whether able to bear the expenses of it, and what may probably be the success of it; lest [thou know not] what to do in the end thereof;
for a livelihood, having spent all thy substance in the lawsuit, and so reduced to poverty as not to know how to live, or how and where to show thy face, through the disgrace that shall fall upon time by losing the cause; when that neighbour hath put thee to shame;
in open court, and proved himself to be in the right, and that thou art in the wrong; himself an honest man, and thee a litigious person.

Proverbs 25:8 In-Context

6 Do not exalt yourself in the king’s presence, and do not claim a place among his great men;

7 it is better for him to say to you, “Come up here,” than for him to humiliate you before his nobles. What you have seen with your eyes

8 do not bring hastily to court, for what will you do in the end if your neighbor puts you to shame?

9 If you take your neighbor to court, do not betray another’s confidence,

10 or the one who hears it may shame you and the charge against you will stand.

Cross References

• 1. Matthew 5:25-26

Footnotes

• [a]. Or "nobles " / "on whom you had set your eyes. " / 8"Do not go"