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Sunday, July 20th, 2025
the Week of Proper 11 / Ordinary 16
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Read the Bible

Douay-Rheims Bible

Proverbs 21:14

A secret present quencheth anger: and a gift in the bosom, the greatest wrath.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Bribery;   The Topic Concordance - Anger;  

Dictionaries:

- Charles Buck Theological Dictionary - Pardon;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Dress;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Proverbs, Book of;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Bosom ;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Bosom;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Alms;   Eleazar Ii. (Lazar);   Gifts;   ḥanina B. Pappa;   Ẓedaḳah Box;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
A secret gift soothes anger,and a covert bribe, fierce rage.
Hebrew Names Version
A gift in secret pacifies anger; And a bribe in the cloak, strong wrath.
King James Version
A gift in secret pacifieth anger: and a reward in the bosom strong wrath.
English Standard Version
A gift in secret averts anger, and a concealed bribe, strong wrath.
New American Standard Bible
A gift in secret subdues anger, And a bribe in an inside pocket, strong wrath.
New Century Version
A secret gift will calm an angry person; a present given in secrecy will quiet great anger.
Amplified Bible
A gift in secret subdues anger, And a bribe [hidden] in the pocket, strong wrath.
World English Bible
A gift in secret pacifies anger; And a bribe in the cloak, strong wrath.
Geneva Bible (1587)
A gift in secret pacifieth anger, and a gift in the bosome great wrath.
Legacy Standard Bible
A gift in secret subdues anger,And a bribe in the bosom, strong wrath.
Berean Standard Bible
A gift in secret soothes anger, and a covert bribe pacifies great wrath.
Contemporary English Version
A secret bribe will save you from someone's fierce anger.
Complete Jewish Bible
A secret gift allays anger, and a bribe under the cloak the strongest fury.
Darby Translation
A gift in secret pacifieth anger; and a present in the bosom, vehement fury.
Easy-to-Read Version
If anyone is angry with you, give them a gift in private. A gift given in secret will calm even the strongest anger.
George Lamsa Translation
A gift in secret pacifies anger; but he who is sparing with his gifts stirs wrath.
Good News Translation
If someone is angry with you, a gift given secretly will calm him down.
Lexham English Bible
A gift in secret will avert anger, and a concealed bribe, strong wrath.
Literal Translation
A gift in secret subdues anger; yea, a bribe in the bosom quiets great fury.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
A preuy rewarde pacifieth displeasure, and a gifte in the bosome stilleth furiousnesse.
American Standard Version
A gift in secret pacifieth anger; And a present in the bosom, strong wrath.
Bible in Basic English
By a secret offering wrath is turned away, and the heat of angry feelings by money in the folds of the robe.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
A gift in secret pacifieth anger, and a present in the bosom strong wrath.
King James Version (1611)
A gift in secret pacifieth anger; and a reward in the bosome, strong wrath.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
A priuie rewarde pacifieth displeasure: and a gyft in the bosome [stylleth] furiousnesse.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
A secret gift calms anger: but he that forbears to give stirs up strong wrath.
English Revised Version
A gift in secret pacifieth anger, and a present in the bosom strong wrath.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
A yift hid quenchith chidyngis; and a yift in bosum quenchith the moost indignacioun.
Update Bible Version
A gift in secret pacifies anger; And a present in the bosom, strong wrath.
Webster's Bible Translation
A gift in secret pacifieth anger: and a reward in the bosom, strong wrath.
New English Translation
A gift given in secret subdues anger, and a bribe given secretly subdues strong wrath.
New King James Version
A gift in secret pacifies anger,And a bribe behind the back, [fn] strong wrath.
New Living Translation
A secret gift calms anger; a bribe under the table pacifies fury.
New Life Bible
A gift in secret quiets anger. A gift from the heart quiets strong anger.
New Revised Standard
A gift in secret averts anger; and a concealed bribe in the bosom, strong wrath.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
A gift in secret, quencheth anger, and, a present in the bosom, mighty wrath.
Revised Standard Version
A gift in secret averts anger; and a bribe in the bosom, strong wrath.
Young's Literal Translation
A gift in secret pacifieth anger, And a bribe in the bosom strong fury.
THE MESSAGE
A quietly given gift soothes an irritable person; a heartfelt present cools a hot temper.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
A gift in secret subdues anger, And a bribe in the bosom, strong wrath.

Contextual Overview

14 A secret present quencheth anger: and a gift in the bosom, the greatest wrath.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

gift: Proverbs 17:8, Proverbs 17:23, Proverbs 18:16, Proverbs 19:6, Genesis 32:20, Genesis 43:11, 1 Samuel 25:35

in secret: Matthew 6:3, Matthew 6:4

Reciprocal: Genesis 21:27 - took Genesis 32:13 - a present Judges 3:15 - sent a present 1 Samuel 25:18 - took two

Cross-References

Genesis 16:7
And the angel of the Lord having found her, by a fountain of water in the wilderness, which is in the way to Sur in the desert,
Genesis 19:27
And Abraham got up early in the morning, and in the place where he had stood before with the Lord:
Genesis 21:6
And Sara said: God hath made a laughter for me: whosoever shall hear of it will laugh with me.
Genesis 21:7
And again she said: Who would believe that Abraham should hear that Sara gave suck to a son, whom she bore to him in his old age?
Genesis 21:23
Swear therefore by God, that thou wilt not hurt me, nor my posterity, nor my stock: but according to the kindness that I have done to thee, thou shalt do to me, and to the land wherein thou hast lived a stranger.
Genesis 21:25
And he reproved Abimelech for a well of water, which his servants had taken away by force.
Genesis 21:31
Therefore that place was called Bersabee; because there both of them did swear.
Genesis 21:33
And Abimelech and Phicol, the general of his army, arose and returned to the land of the Palestines. But Abraham planted a grove in Bersabee, and there called upon the name of the Lord God eternal.
Genesis 22:3
So Abraham rising up in the night, saddled his ass, and took with him two young men, and Isaac his son: and when he had cut wood for the holocaust, he went his way to the place which God had commanded him.
Genesis 22:19
Abraham returned to his young men, and they went to Bersabee together, and he dwelt there.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

A gift in secret pacifieth anger,.... Appeases an angry man; humbles and "brings [his anger] down" y, as Aben Ezra and Gersom observe the word signifies; which before rose very high, and showed itself in big words and disdainful looks, as proud wrath does; or extinguishes it, as the Targum and Vulgate Latin version render it, and very fitly. Anger is a fire in the breast; and a restraining or causing it to cease is properly expressed by an extinguishing of it: this a gift or present does, as it did in Esau from Jacob, in David from Abigail; but then it must be secretly given, otherwise it may more provoke; since it may show vanity in the giver, and covetousness in the receiver; and the former may have more honour than the latter. Some understand this of a gift for a bribe to a judge, to abate the severity of the sentence; and others of alms deeds to the poor, to pacify the anger of God z: Jarchi interprets it of alms; and the Jews write this sentence upon the poor's box, understanding it in this sense; but the first sense is best;

and a reward in the bosom strong wrath: the same thing in different words; the meaning is, that a reward or gift, secretly conveyed into the bosom of an angry man, pacifies his wrath, when at the greatest height. The Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic versions, understand it in a quite different sense, of a gift retained in the bosom, and not given, and render it thus, "he that spareth gifts stirreth up strong wrath".

y יכפה "deprimit", Piscator; so some in Mercerus; "subigit", Cocceius; "pensat nasum", Schultens. z "Munera (crede mihi) placant hominesque deosque", Ovid. de Arte Amandi, l. 3.


 
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