Key Verse Spotlight
Proverbs 15:19 - Meaning and Application
Understand how this verse speaks to what you're facing and how to apply it today
Translation: World English Bible — Catholic Edition
" The way of the sluggard is like a thorn patch, but the path of the upright is a highway. "
Proverbs 15:19
Verse in Context
Understanding the surrounding verses prevents misinterpretation:
17 Better is a dinner of herbs, where love is, than a fattened calf with hatred.
18 A wrathful man stirs up contention, but one who is slow to anger appeases strife.
19 The way of the sluggard is like a thorn patch, but the path of the upright is a highway.
20 A wise son makes a father glad, but a foolish man despises his mother.
21 Folly is joy to one who is void of wisdom, but a man of understanding keeps his way straight.
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See here, first, where the troubles come from that people claim they meet in doing their duty, and call impossible. They do not come from anything in the duty itself, but from the laziness of those who really do not want to do it. People with no heart for their work often say their path is blocked with thorns, and they cannot do it at all. They act as if God were a harsh Master, expecting work where he had not given any seed.
At the least, they say the road is full of thorns, so they cannot do their work without great pain and danger. So they approach it with the same reluctance as if they had to walk barefoot through a thorn hedge. But an honest desire to do our duty, along with a real effort to do it, will, by God’s grace, make it easier. Then we find the way strewn with roses. The way of the righteous is made plain, easy to walk on and not rough, easy to find and not confusing.
From This Chapter
Proverbs 15:1
"A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger."
Proverbs 15:2
"The tongue of the wise commends knowledge, but the mouths of fools gush out folly."
Proverbs 15:3
"The LORD’s eyes are everywhere, keeping watch on the evil and the good."
Proverbs 15:4
"A gentle tongue is a tree of life, but deceit in it crushes the spirit."
Proverbs 15:5
"A fool despises his father’s correction, but he who heeds reproof shows prudence."
Proverbs 15:6
"In the house of the righteous is much treasure, but the income of the wicked brings trouble."
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