Key Verse Spotlight
Proverbs 17:19 - 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
" He who loves disobedience loves strife. One who builds a high gate seeks destruction. "
Proverbs 17:19
Verse in Context
Understanding the surrounding verses prevents misinterpretation:
17 A friend loves at all times; and a brother is born for adversity.
18 A man void of understanding strikes hands, and becomes collateral in the presence of his neighbor.
19 He who loves disobedience loves strife. One who builds a high gate seeks destruction.
20 One who has a perverse heart doesn’t find prosperity, and one who has a deceitful tongue falls into trouble.
21 He who becomes the father of a fool grieves. The father of a fool has no joy.
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People who love quarrels bring a great deal of guilt on themselves. A person who loves strife, whether in business by always going to court, in religion by always stirring up disputes, or in ordinary conversation by arguing and picking fights, is never satisfied unless there is trouble. In that way, he also loves sin, because many sins come with this one sin, and it only leads downhill. He may claim that he is defending truth, honor, or his rights, but in reality he is loving what God hates.
People who are proud and eager to rise also bring much trouble on themselves, and that trouble often ends in ruin. The one who “exalts his gate,” meaning he builds a grand house or a showy front to look greater than his neighbors, is working toward his own destruction. He takes great pains to ruin himself. He makes his gate so large that his house and estate, as it were, go out through it.
From This Chapter
Proverbs 17:1
"Better is a dry morsel with quietness, than a house full of feasting with strife."
Proverbs 17:2
"A servant who deals wisely will rule over a son who causes shame, and shall have a part in the inheritance among the brothers."
Proverbs 17:3
"The refining pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold, but the LORD tests the hearts."
Proverbs 17:4
"An evildoer heeds wicked lips. A liar gives ear to a mischievous tongue."
Proverbs 17:5
"Whoever mocks the poor reproaches his Maker. He who is glad at calamity shall not be unpunished."
Proverbs 17:6
"Children’s children are the crown of old men; the glory of children is their parents."
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