Lectionary Calendar
Saturday, July 12th, 2025
the Week of Proper 9 / Ordinary 14
Attention!
Tired of seeing ads while studying? Now you can enjoy an "Ads Free" version of the site for as little as 10¢ a day and support a great cause!
Click here to learn more!

Read the Bible

THE MESSAGE

Proverbs 17:1

A meal of bread and water in contented peace is better than a banquet spiced with quarrels.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Contentment;   Meekness;   Peace;   Strife;   Thompson Chain Reference - Quietness;   Quietness-Tumult;   The Topic Concordance - Peace;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Strife;  

Dictionaries:

- Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Wealth;   Charles Buck Theological Dictionary - Pardon;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Proverbs, Book of;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Contentment;   Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types - Morsel;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Better a dry crust with peace
Hebrew Names Version
Better is a dry morsel with quietness, Than a house full of feasting with strife.
King James Version
Better is a dry morsel, and quietness therewith, than an house full of sacrifices with strife.
English Standard Version
Better is a dry morsel with quiet than a house full of feasting with strife.
New American Standard Bible
Better is a dry morsel and quietness with it Than a house full of feasting with strife.
New Century Version
It is better to eat a dry crust of bread in peace than to have a feast where there is quarreling.
Amplified Bible
Better is a dry morsel [of food served] with quietness and peace Than a house full of feasting [served] with strife and contention.
World English Bible
Better is a dry morsel with quietness, Than a house full of feasting with strife.
Geneva Bible (1587)
Better is a dry morsell, if peace be with it, then an house full of sacrifices with strife.
Legacy Standard Bible
Better is a dry morsel and tranquility with itThan a house full of feasting with strife.
Berean Standard Bible
Better a dry morsel in quietness than a house full of feasting with strife.
Contemporary English Version
A dry crust of bread eaten in peace and quiet is better than a feast eaten where everyone argues.
Complete Jewish Bible
Better a dry piece of bread with calm than a house full of food but also full of strife.
Darby Translation
Better is a dry morsel, and quietness therewith, than a house full of feasting [with] strife.
Easy-to-Read Version
It is better to have nothing but a dry piece of bread to eat in peace than a whole house full of food with everyone arguing.
George Lamsa Translation
BETTER is dry bread, and quietness with it, than a house full of feasting with strife.
Good News Translation
Better to eat a dry crust of bread with peace of mind than have a banquet in a house full of trouble.
Lexham English Bible
Better a dry morsel and quiet with it than a house filled with feasts of strife.
Literal Translation
Better is a dry piece of bread, and quietness with it, than a house full of sacrifices with fighting.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Better is a drye morsell wt quyetnesse, the a full house and many fatt catell wt stryfe.
American Standard Version
Better is a dry morsel, and quietness therewith, Than a house full of feasting with strife.
Bible in Basic English
Better a bit of dry bread in peace, than a house full of feasting and violent behaviour.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
Better is a dry morsel and quietness therewith, than a house full of feasting with strife.
King James Version (1611)
Better is a drie morsell, and quietnesse therewith; then an house full of sacrifices with strife.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
Better is a drye morsell with quietnesse, then a house full of fat offeryng with strife.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
Better is a morsel with pleasure in peace, than a house full of many good things and unjust sacrifices, with strife.
English Revised Version
Better is a dry morsel and quietness therewith, than an house full of feasting with strife.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Betere is a drie mussel with ioye, than an hous ful of sacrifices with chidyng.
Update Bible Version
Better is a dry morsel, and quietness therewith, Than a house full of feasting with strife.
Webster's Bible Translation
Better [is] a dry morsel, and quietness with it, than a house full of sacrifices [with] strife.
New English Translation
Better is a dry crust of bread where there is quietness than a house full of feasting with strife.
New King James Version
Better is a dry morsel with quietness,Than a house full of feasting [fn] with strife.
New Living Translation
Better a dry crust eaten in peace than a house filled with feasting—and conflict.
New Life Bible
A dry piece of food with peace and quiet is better than a house full of food with fighting.
New Revised Standard
Better is a dry morsel with quiet than a house full of feasting with strife.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Better a dry morsel, and peace therewith, than a house full of contentious sacrifices.
Douay-Rheims Bible
Better is a dry morsel with joy, than a house full of victims with strife.
Revised Standard Version
Better is a dry morsel with quiet than a house full of feasting with strife.
Young's Literal Translation
Better [is] a dry morsel, and rest with it, Than a house full of the sacrifices of strife.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
Better is a dry morsel and quietness with it Than a house full of feasting with strife.

Contextual Overview

1 A meal of bread and water in contented peace is better than a banquet spiced with quarrels.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

a dry: Proverbs 15:17, Psalms 37:16

an house: Proverbs 7:14

sacrifices: or, good cheer

with: Proverbs 21:9, Proverbs 21:19

Reciprocal: 1 Samuel 20:24 - the king Ecclesiastes 4:6 - General 1 Thessalonians 4:11 - that 2 Thessalonians 3:12 - that with James 5:5 - as in

Cross-References

Genesis 5:24
Enoch walked steadily with God. And then one day he was simply gone: God took him.
Genesis 12:1
God told Abram: "Leave your country, your family, and your father's home for a land that I will show you.
Genesis 12:7
God appeared to Abram and said, "I will give this land to your children." Abram built an altar at the place God had appeared to him.
Genesis 18:1
God appeared to Abraham at the Oaks of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance of his tent. It was the hottest part of the day. He looked up and saw three men standing. He ran from his tent to greet them and bowed before them.
Genesis 28:3
"And may The Strong God bless you and give you many, many children, a congregation of peoples; and pass on the blessing of Abraham to you and your descendants so that you will get this land in which you live, this land God gave Abraham."
Genesis 35:11
God continued, I am The Strong God. Have children! Flourish! A nation—a whole company of nations!— will come from you. Kings will come from your loins; the land I gave Abraham and Isaac I now give to you, and pass it on to your descendants.
Numbers 11:23
God answered Moses, "So, do you think I can't take care of you? You'll see soon enough whether what I say happens for you or not."
Deuteronomy 18:13
Be completely loyal to God , your God. These nations that you're about to run out of the country consort with sorcerers and witches. But not you. God , your God, forbids it.
1 Kings 3:6
Solomon said, "You were extravagantly generous in love with David my father, and he lived faithfully in your presence, his relationships were just and his heart right. And you have persisted in this great and generous love by giving him—and this very day!—a son to sit on his throne.
Job 1:1
Job was a man who lived in Uz. He was honest inside and out, a man of his word, who was totally devoted to God and hated evil with a passion. He had seven sons and three daughters. He was also very wealthy—seven thousand head of sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred teams of oxen, five hundred donkeys, and a huge staff of servants—the most influential man in all the East!

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Better [is] a dry morsel, and quietness therewith,.... A small quantity of bread; a broken piece of bread, as the word w signifies; which has been long broken off, and become "dry" x; a dry crust of bread; old bread, as the Arabic version; an old, mouldy, dry piece of bread: and the word used has the signification of destruction in it: bread that has lost its taste and virtue; or, however, a mere piece of bread is meant, without anything to eat with it, as Gersom, butter, cheese, or flesh: this, with quietness and peace among those that partake of it, peace in the family, in a man's own mind, especially if he has the peace of God, which passeth all understanding; this is better

than a house full of sacrifices [with] strife; than a house ever so well furnished with good cheer, or a table ever so richly spread; or where there is plenty of slain beasts for food, or for sacrifice, which were usually the best, and part of which the people had to eat, and at which times feasts used to be made; but the meanest food, with tranquillity and contentment, is preferable to the richest entertainment where there is nothing but strife and contention among the guests; for, where that is, there is confusion and every evil work: peace and joy in the Holy Ghost are better than meats and drinks. Mr. Dod used to say,

"brown bread and the Gospel are good fare;''

see Proverbs 15:17.

w פת "frustrum", a פתת, "fregit", Gejerus. x חרבה "siccum frustum panis", Tigurine version; "cibi sicci" Junius Tremellius "brucella sicca", V. L. Mercerus, Piscator; "buccea sicca", Cocceuis; "frustum sicci, sc. cibi", Michaelis, "frustum siccae buccellae, Schultens, so Ben Melech.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Sacrifices - The feast accompanied the offerings Proverbs 7:14. Part of the victims were burned upon the altar, the rest was consumed by the worshipper and his friends. The “house full of sacrifices” was therefore one abounding in sumptuous feasts.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

CHAPTER XVII

Contentment. The wise servant. The Lord tries the heart.

Children a crown to their parents. We should hide our

neighbour's faults. The poor should not be despised.

Litigations and quarrels to be avoided. Wealth is useless to

a fool. The good friend. A fool may pass for a wise man when

he holds his peace.

NOTES ON CHAP. XVII

Verse Proverbs 17:1. Better is a dry morsel — Peace and contentment, and especially domestic peace, are beyond all other blessings.

A house full of sacrifices — A Hindoo priest, who officiates at a festival, sometimes receives so many offerings that his house is filled with them, so that many of them are damaged before they can be used.-Ward.


 
adsfree-icon
Ads FreeProfile