The Meaning of Proverbs 15:25 Explained

Proverbs 15:25

KJV: The LORD will destroy the house of the proud: but he will establish the border of the widow.

YLT: The house of the proud Jehovah pulleth down, And He setteth up the border of the widow.

Darby: Jehovah plucketh up the house of the proud; but he establisheth the boundary of the widow.

ASV: Jehovah will root up the house of the proud; But he will establish the border of the widow.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

The LORD  will destroy  the house  of the proud:  but he will establish  the border  of the widow. 

What does Proverbs 15:25 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 15:25 mean?

The house of the proud will destroy Yahweh but He will establish the boundary of the widow
בֵּ֣ית גֵּ֭אִים יִסַּ֥ח ׀ יְהוָ֑ה וְ֝יַצֵּ֗ב גְּב֣וּל אַלְמָנָֽה

בֵּ֣ית  The  house 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular construct
Root: בַּיִת 
Sense: house.
גֵּ֭אִים  of  the  proud 
Parse: Adjective, masculine plural
Root: גֵּאֶה  
Sense: proud.
יִסַּ֥ח ׀  will  destroy 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Imperfect, third person masculine singular
Root: נָסַח  
Sense: to pull or tear away.
יְהוָ֑ה  Yahweh 
Parse: Proper Noun, masculine singular
Root: יהוה 
Sense: the proper name of the one true God.
וְ֝יַצֵּ֗ב  but  He  will  establish 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Verb, Hifil, Conjunctive imperfect Jussive, third person masculine singular
Root: הֻצַּב 
Sense: to stand, take one’s stand, stand upright, be set (over), establish.
גְּב֣וּל  the  boundary 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular construct
Root: גְּבוּל  
Sense: border, territory.
אַלְמָנָֽה  of  the  widow 
Parse: Noun, feminine singular
Root: אַלְמָנָה  
Sense: widow.