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Tuesday, July 8th, 2025
the Week of Proper 9 / Ordinary 14
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Read the Bible

THE MESSAGE

Proverbs 17:14

The start of a quarrel is like a leak in a dam, so stop it before it bursts.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Adjudication at Law;   Anger;   Peace;   Strife;   Thompson Chain Reference - Unity-Strife;   The Topic Concordance - Strife;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Water;  

Dictionaries:

- Charles Buck Theological Dictionary - Order;   Pardon;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Jephthah;   Josiah;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Fool, Foolishness, and Folly;   Proverbs, Book of;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Fool;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Simeon B. Menasya;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
To start a conflict is to release a flood;stop the dispute before it breaks out.
Hebrew Names Version
The beginning of strife is like breaching a dam, Therefore stop contention before quarreling breaks out.
King James Version
The beginning of strife is as when one letteth out water: therefore leave off contention, before it be meddled with.
English Standard Version
The beginning of strife is like letting out water, so quit before the quarrel breaks out.
New American Standard Bible
The beginning of strife is like letting out water, So abandon the quarrel before it breaks out.
New Century Version
Starting a quarrel is like a leak in a dam, so stop it before a fight breaks out.
Amplified Bible
The beginning of strife is like letting out water [as from a small break in a dam; first it trickles and then it gushes]; Therefore abandon the quarrel before it breaks out and tempers explode.
World English Bible
The beginning of strife is like breaching a dam, Therefore stop contention before quarreling breaks out.
Geneva Bible (1587)
The beginning of strife is as one that openeth the waters: therefore or the contention be medled with, leaue off.
Legacy Standard Bible
The beginning of strife is like letting out water,So abandon the dispute before it breaks out.
Berean Standard Bible
To start a quarrel is to release a flood; so abandon the dispute before it breaks out.
Contemporary English Version
The start of an argument is like a water leak— so stop it before real trouble breaks out.
Complete Jewish Bible
Starting a fight is like letting water through [a dike] — better stop the quarrel before it gets worse.
Darby Translation
The beginning of contention is [as] when one letteth out water; therefore leave off strife before it become vehement.
Easy-to-Read Version
The start of an argument is like a small leak in a dam. Stop it before a big fight breaks out.
George Lamsa Translation
He who sheds blood stirs up judgment before the ruler.
Good News Translation
The start of an argument is like the first break in a dam; stop it before it goes any further.
Lexham English Bible
Like the release of water is the beginning of strife; before it breaks out, stop the quarrel.
Literal Translation
The beginning of strife is like the releasing of water, therefore leave off fighting before it breaks out.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
He yt soweth discorde & strife, is like one yt dyggeth vp a water broke: but an open enemie is like the water yt breaketh out & reneth abrode.
American Standard Version
The beginning of strife is as when one letteth out water: Therefore leave off contention, before there is quarrelling.
Bible in Basic English
The start of fighting is like the letting out of water: so give up before it comes to blows.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
The beginning of strife is as when one letteth out water; therefore leave off contention, before the quarrel break out.
King James Version (1611)
The beginning of strife is as when one letteth out water: therfore leaue off contention, before it be medled with.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
The beginning of strife is, as when a man maketh an issue for water: therfore leaue of before the contention be medled with.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
Rightful rule gives power to words; but sedition and strife precede poverty.
English Revised Version
The beginning of strife is as when one letteth out water: therefore leave off contention, before there be quarrelling.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
He that leeueth watir, is heed of stryues; and bifor that he suffrith wrong, he forsakith dom.
Update Bible Version
The beginning of strife is [as] when one lets out water: Therefore leave off contention, before there is quarrelling.
Webster's Bible Translation
The beginning of strife [is as] when one letteth out water: therefore withdraw from contention, before it be meddled with.
New English Translation
Starting a quarrel is like letting out water; stop it before strife breaks out!
New King James Version
The beginning of strife is like releasing water; Therefore stop contention before a quarrel starts.
New Living Translation
Starting a quarrel is like opening a floodgate, so stop before a dispute breaks out.
New Life Bible
The beginning of trouble is like letting out water. So stop arguing before fighting breaks out.
New Revised Standard
The beginning of strife is like letting out water; so stop before the quarrel breaks out.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
A letting forth of water, is the beginning of strife, therefore, before it breaketh out, abandon, contention.
Douay-Rheims Bible
The beginning of quarrels is as when one letteth out water: and before he suffereth reproach, he forsaketh judgment.
Revised Standard Version
The beginning of strife is like letting out water; so quit before the quarrel breaks out.
Young's Literal Translation
The beginning of contention [is] a letting out of waters, And before it is meddled with leave the strife.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
The beginning of strife is like letting out water, So abandon the quarrel before it breaks out.

Contextual Overview

14 The start of a quarrel is like a leak in a dam, so stop it before it bursts.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

beginning: Proverbs 17:19, Proverbs 26:21, Proverbs 29:22, Judges 12:1-6, 2 Samuel 2:14-17, 2 Samuel 19:41-43, 2 Samuel 20:1-22, 2 Chronicles 10:14-16, 2 Chronicles 13:17, 2 Chronicles 25:17-24, 2 Chronicles 28:6

leave: Proverbs 13:10, Proverbs 14:29, Proverbs 15:1, Proverbs 16:32, Proverbs 19:11, Proverbs 20:3, Proverbs 25:8, Genesis 13:8, Genesis 13:9, Judges 8:1-3, Ecclesiastes 7:8, Ecclesiastes 7:9, Matthew 5:39-41, Acts 6:1-5, Acts 15:2-21, Romans 12:18, 1 Thessalonians 4:11, 2 Timothy 2:23, 2 Timothy 2:24, James 3:14-18

Reciprocal: Judges 12:6 - there fell 2 Samuel 2:26 - it will be 2 Samuel 2:27 - unless 2 Samuel 19:43 - the words 2 Samuel 20:2 - every man 1 Kings 12:14 - My father made 2 Kings 14:8 - Come 2 Kings 14:10 - why shouldest Proverbs 3:30 - General Proverbs 18:1 - intermeddleth Proverbs 18:6 - fool's Proverbs 26:4 - General Proverbs 30:33 - so Hosea 5:10 - remove Acts 12:20 - but 1 Corinthians 13:4 - vaunteth not itself Colossians 3:8 - anger Hebrews 12:14 - Follow James 1:19 - slow to wrath

Cross-References

Genesis 17:20
"And Ishmael? Yes, I heard your prayer for him. I'll also bless him; I'll make sure he has plenty of children—a huge family. He'll father twelve princes; I'll make him a great nation. But I'll establish my covenant with Isaac whom Sarah will give you about this time next year."
Genesis 17:24
Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised. His son Ishmael was thirteen years old when he was circumcised. Abraham and Ishmael were circumcised the same day together with all the servants of his household, those born there and those purchased from outsiders—all were circumcised with him.
Leviticus 18:29
"Those who do any of these abhorrent things will be cut off from their people. Keep to what I tell you; don't engage in any of the abhorrent acts that were practiced before you came. Don't pollute yourselves with them. I am God , your God."
Psalms 55:20
And this, my best friend, betrayed his best friends; his life betrayed his word. All my life I've been charmed by his speech, never dreaming he'd turn on me. His words, which were music to my ears, turned to daggers in my heart.
Isaiah 24:5
Earth is polluted by its very own people, who have broken its laws, Disrupted its order, violated the sacred and eternal covenant. Therefore a curse, like a cancer, ravages the earth. Its people pay the price of their sacrilege. They dwindle away, dying out one by one. No more wine, no more vineyards, no more songs or singers. The laughter of castanets is gone, the shouts of celebrants, gone, the laughter of fiddles, gone. No more parties with toasts of champagne. Serious drinkers gag on their drinks. The chaotic cities are unlivable. Anarchy reigns. Every house is boarded up, condemned. People riot in the streets for wine, but the good times are gone forever— no more joy for this old world. The city is dead and deserted, bulldozed into piles of rubble. That's the way it will be on this earth. This is the fate of all nations: An olive tree shaken clean of its olives, a grapevine picked clean of its grapes.
1 Corinthians 11:27
Anyone who eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Master irreverently is like part of the crowd that jeered and spit on him at his death. Is that the kind of "remembrance" you want to be part of? Examine your motives, test your heart, come to this meal in holy awe.
1 Corinthians 11:29
If you give no thought (or worse, don't care) about the broken body of the Master when you eat and drink, you're running the risk of serious consequences. That's why so many of you even now are listless and sick, and others have gone to an early grave. If we get this straight now, we won't have to be straightened out later on. Better to be confronted by the Master now than to face a fiery confrontation later.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

The beginning of strife [is as] when one letteth out water,.... As when a man makes a little hole in the bank of a river, or cuts a small passage in it, to let the water into an adjoining field; by the force of the water, the passage is widened, and it flows in, in great abundance, to the overflow and prejudice of the field; nor is it easily stopped: so a single word, spoken in anger, with some warmth, or in a way of contradiction, has been the beginning and occasion of great strife and contention. The words in the Hebrew text lie thus; "he that letteth out water [is] the beginning of strife" o; which some understand of letting out water into another man's field, which occasions contentions, quarrels, and lawsuits; but the former sense is best: the Targum is,

"he that sheddeth blood as water stirreth up strifes;''

therefore leave off contention, before it be meddled with; cease from it as soon as begun; leave it off before it is well entered: or "before one mixes himself" p with it, or is implicated with it; got so far into it, that it will be difficult to get out of it: or "before thou strivest with any openly"; which sense the word has in the Arabic language, as Schultens q observes; that is, before you come to open words and blows, put an end to the contention; do not suffer it to proceed so far; since it cannot be known what will be the consequence of it: or rather, leave it off, as the same learned writer in his later thoughts, in his commentary on the place, by the help of Arabism, also renders it, "before the teeth are made bare": or shown, in quarrelling, brawling, reproaching, in wrath and anger.

o פוטר מים ראשית מרון "qui aperit aquam, vel aperiens aquas (est) principium contentionis", Pagninus, Montanus. p לפני התגלע "antequam sese immisceat", Junius & Tremellius. q Animadv. p. 931.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The figure is taken from the great tank or reservoir upon which Eastern cities often depended for their supply of water. The beginning of strife is compared to the first crack in the mound of such a reservoir. At first a few drops ooze out, but after a time the whole mass of waters pour themselves forth with fury, and it is hard to set limits to the destruction which they cause.

Before it be meddled with - literally, “before it rolls, or rushes forward.”

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Proverbs 17:14. The beginning of strife is as when one letteth out water — As soon as the smallest breach is made in the dike or dam, the water begins to press from all parts towards the breach; the resistance becomes too great to be successfully opposed, so that dikes and all are speedily swept away. Such is the beginning of contentions, quarrels, lawsuits, &c.

Leave off contention, before it be meddled with. — As you see what an altercation must lead to, therefore do not begin it. Before it be mingled together, התגלע hithgalla, before the spirits of the contending parties come into conflict - are joined together in battle, and begin to deal out mutual reflections and reproaches. When you see that the dispute is likely to take this turn, leave it off immediately.


 
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