Key Verse Spotlight
Proverbs 21:19 - 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
" It is better to dwell in a desert land, than with a contentious and fretful woman. "
Proverbs 21:19
Verse in Context
Understanding the surrounding verses prevents misinterpretation:
17 He who loves pleasure will be a poor man. He who loves wine and oil won’t be rich.
18 The wicked is a ransom for the righteous, the treacherous for the upright.
19 It is better to dwell in a desert land, than with a contentious and fretful woman.
20 There is precious treasure and oil in the dwelling of the wise, but a foolish man swallows it up.
21 He who follows after righteousness and kindness finds life, righteousness, and honor.
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Create Free AccountBible Guided Commentary
Uncontrolled passions sour and ruin the comfort of every relationship. A cranky, angry wife makes her husband’s life unhappy, though she should be a comfort and a suitable helper. People cannot live in peace and happiness if they cannot live in peace and love. Even those who are one flesh cannot enjoy their union if they are not also of one spirit.
It is better to have no company than bad company. Your wife, as the partner of your covenant, is your companion. Yet if she is irritable and always stirring up trouble, it is better to live alone in a lonely wilderness, exposed to wind and weather, than to live with her. A person may find it easier to enjoy God and his own thoughts in a wilderness than among quarrelsome family members and neighbors. See (Proverbs 21:9).
From This Chapter
Proverbs 21:1
"The king’s heart is in the LORD’s hand like the watercourses. He turns it wherever he desires."
Proverbs 21:2
"Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the LORD weighs the hearts."
Proverbs 21:3
"To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice."
Proverbs 21:4
"A high look and a proud heart, the lamp of the wicked, is sin."
Proverbs 21:5
"The plans of the diligent surely lead to profit; and everyone who is hasty surely rushes to poverty."
Proverbs 21:6
"Getting treasures by a lying tongue is a fleeting vapor for those who seek death."
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