The Meaning of Proverbs 15:18 Explained

Proverbs 15:18

KJV: A wrathful man stirreth up strife: but he that is slow to anger appeaseth strife.

YLT: A man of fury stirreth up contention, And the slow to anger appeaseth strife.

Darby: A furious man stirreth up contention; but he that is slow to anger appeaseth strife.

ASV: A wrathful man stirreth up contention; But he that is slow to anger appeaseth strife.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

A wrathful  man  stirreth up  strife:  but [he that is] slow  to anger  appeaseth  strife. 

What does Proverbs 15:18 Mean?

Context Summary

Proverbs 15:18-33 - Words In Season
Learn to be slow to anger. This paragraph describes the even temper which is blessed to live with and blessed to die with. Temper is said to be nine-tenths of Christianity. What best proves a Christian is an even temper. It is told of a Japanese gentleman, who was led by a tract to renounce the use of intoxicants and to accept Jesus Christ, that the immediate effect on his temper was so great that his wife, who had often suffered from his uncontrollable fits of anger, said, "If this is the result of Christianity, I want to become a Christian." When the missionaries afterward visited the place, they found her and ten other persons awaiting baptism.
As these proverbs suggest, the quickest method of overcoming and eradicating the wrong is, in the power of God, to cultivate the right. By this we shall tread the way of the wise that goeth upward toward the heavenly life of the angels, and we shall be saved from a hell of misery. See Proverbs 15:24, r.v. Philippians 3:20; Colossians 3:1. [source]

Chapter Summary: Proverbs 15

1  A gentle answer turns away wrath

What do the individual words in Proverbs 15:18 mean?

A man wrathful stirs up strife but [he who is] slow to anger allays contention
אִ֣ישׁ חֵ֭מָה יְגָרֶ֣ה מָד֑וֹן וְאֶ֥רֶך‪‬ אַ֝פַּ֗יִם יַשְׁקִ֥יט רִֽיב

אִ֣ישׁ  A  man 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular construct
Root: אִישׁ 
Sense: man.
חֵ֭מָה  wrathful 
Parse: Noun, feminine singular
Root: חֵמָא 
Sense: heat, rage, hot displeasure, indignation, anger, wrath, poison, bottles.
יְגָרֶ֣ה  stirs  up 
Parse: Verb, Piel, Imperfect, third person masculine singular
Root: גָּרָה  
Sense: to cause strife, stir up, contend, meddle, strive, be stirred up.
מָד֑וֹן  strife 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular
Root: מָדֹון  
Sense: strife, contention.
וְאֶ֥רֶך‪‬  but  [he  who  is]  slow 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Adjective, masculine singular construct
Root: אָרֵךְ 
Sense: long (pinions).
אַ֝פַּ֗יִם  to  anger 
Parse: Noun, md
Root: אַף 
Sense: nostril, nose, face.
יַשְׁקִ֥יט  allays 
Parse: Verb, Hifil, Imperfect, third person masculine singular
Root: שָׁקַט  
Sense: to be quiet, be tranquil, be at peace, be quiet, rest, lie still, be undisturbed.
רִֽיב  contention 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular
Root: רִיב 
Sense: strife, controversy, dispute.