Proverbs 25:15

Geneva Bible (1560)

A Prince is pacified by staying of anger, and a soft tongue breaketh the bones.

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

בְּאֹ֣רֶךְ אַ֭פַּיִם יְפֻתֶּ֣ה קָצִ֑ין וְלָשׁ֥וֹן רַ֝כָּ֗ה תִּשְׁבָּר־גָּֽרֶם׃

Transliteration

In-ʾōrek ʾappayim yĕputteh qāṣîn and-lāšôn rakkāh tišbār-gārem

Grammar Details

• *bĕ*: preposition - in/by
• *ʾōrek*: noun, masculine singular construct - patience of
• *ʾappayim*: noun, masculine dual - nostrils/anger
• *yĕputteh*: pual imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular - he is persuaded
• *qāṣîn*: noun, masculine singular - ruler/judge
• *wĕ*: conjunction - and
• *lāšôn*: noun, feminine singular - tongue
• *rakkāh*: adjective, feminine singular - soft/gentle
• *tišbār*: qal imperfect, 3rd person feminine singular - it breaks
• *gārem*: noun, masculine singular - bone

Word Meanings

• *ʾōrek*: patience/slowness/length
• *ʾappayim*: nostrils/anger/wrath (idiom for patience)
• *yĕputteh*: is persuaded/is convinced/is won over
• *qāṣîn*: ruler/judge/commander
• *lāšôn*: tongue/language/speech
• *rakkāh*: soft/gentle/tender
• *tišbār*: breaks/shatters/crushes
• *gārem*: bone/strength

Referenced Verses

• Prov 15:1 : 1 A soft answere putteth away wrath: but grieuous wordes stirre vp anger.
• Eccl 10:4 : 4 If the spirite of him that ruleth, rise vp against thee, leaue not thy place: for gentlenes pacifieth great sinnes.
• Prov 16:14 : 14 The wrath of a King is as messengers of death: but a wise man will pacifie it.
• Gen 32:4-9 : 4 To whom he gaue commandement, saying, Thus shall ye speake to my lorde Esau: thy seruant Iaakob sayeth thus, I haue bene a stranger with Laban, and taried vnto this time. 5 I haue beeues also and Asses, sheepe, & men seruantes, and women seruantes, and haue sent to shew my lord, that I may find grace in thy sight. 6 So ye messengers came againe to Iaakob, saying, We came vnto thy brother Esau, and hee also commeth against thee and foure hundreth men with him. 7 Then Iaakob was greatly afraid, and was sore troubled, and deuided the people that was with him, and the sheepe, and the beeues, and the camels into two companies. 8 For he said, If Esau come to ye one copanie and smite it, the other companie shall escape. 9 Moreouer Iaakob said, O God of my father Abraham, & God of my father Izhak: Lord, which saydest vnto me, Returne vnto thy coutrey and to thy kinred, and I will do thee good, 10 I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and al the trueth, which thou hast shewed vnto thy seruant: for with my staffe came I ouer this Iorden, & now haue I gotte two bads. 11 I pray thee, Deliuer me from the hande of my brother, from the hande of Esau: for I feare him, least he will come and smite me, and the mother vpon the children. 12 For thou saydest; I will surely doe thee good, and make thy seede as the sande of the sea, which can not be nombred for multitude. 13 And he taryed there the same night, and tooke of that which came to had, a present for Esau his brother: 14 Two hundreth shee goates & twenty hee goates, two hundreth ewes & twentie rammes: 15 Thirtie mylche camels with their coltes, fourtie kine, and ten bullockes, twentie she asses and ten foles. 16 So he deliuered them into the hande of his seruants, euery droue by themselues, and saide vnto his seruants, Passe before me, & put a space betweene droue and droue. 17 And he commanded the formost, saying, If Esau my brother meete thee, and aske thee, saying, Whose seruant art thou? And whither goest thou? And whose are these before thee? 18 Then thou shalt say, They be thy seruant Iaakobs: it is a present sent vnto my lord Esau: and beholde, he him selfe also is behinde vs. 19 So likewise commaunded he the seconde and the thirde, and all that followed the droues, saying, After this maner, ye shall speake vnto Esau, when ye finde him. 20 And ye shall say moreouer, Beholde, thy seruant Iaakob commeth after vs (for he thought, I will appease his wrath with the present that goeth before me, and afterwarde I will see his face: it may be that he will accept me.) 21 So went the present before him: but he taried that night with the companie.
• 1 Sam 25:14 : 14 Nowe one of the seruantes tolde Abigail Nabals wife, saying, Beholde, Dauid sent messengers out of the wildernesse to salute our master, and he rayled on them.
• 1 Sam 25:24-44 : 24 And fel at his feete, and sayd, Oh, my lord, I haue committed the iniquitie, and I pray thee, let thine handmayde speake to thee, and heare thou the wordes of thine handmayde. 25 Let not my lorde, I pray thee, regard this wicked man Nabal: for as his name is, so is he: Nabal is his name, and follie is with him: but I thine handmayde sawe not the yong men of my lord whom thou sentest. 26 Now therefore my lord, as the Lord liueth, and as thy soule liueth (the Lorde, I say, that hath withholden thee from coming to shedde blood, & that thine hand should not saue thee) so now thine enemies shall be as Nabal, and they that intend to doe my lord euill. 27 And now, this blessing which thine handmaid hath brought vnto my lorde, let it be giuen vnto the yong men, that followe my lord. 28 I pray thee, forgiue the trespasse of thine handmaide: for the Lorde will make my lorde a sure house, because my lord fighteth the battels of the Lorde, and none euill hath bene found in thee in all thy life. 29 Yet a man hath risen vp to persecute thee, and to seeke thy soule, but the soule of my lorde shall be bounde in the bundel of life with the Lord thy God: & the soule of thine enemies shal God cast out, as out of the middle of a sling. 30 And when the Lorde shall haue done to my lord al the good that he hath promised thee, and shall haue made thee ruler ouer Israel, 31 Then shall it be no griefe vnto thee, nor offence of minde vnto my lord, that he hath not shed blood causelesse, nor that my lorde hath not preserued him selfe: and when the Lorde shall haue dealt well with my lorde, remember thine handmaide. 32 Then Dauid said to Abigail, Blessed be the Lorde God of Israel, which sent thee this day to meete me. 33 And blessed be thy counsel, and blessed be thou, which hast kept me this day fro coming to shed blood, and that mine hand hath not saued me. 34 For in deede, as the Lord God of Israel liueth, who hath kept me backe from hurting thee, except thou haddest hasted and met mee, surely there had not bene left vnto Nabal by the dawning of the day, any that pisseth against the wall. 35 Then Dauid receiued of her hande that which she had brought him, and said to her, Goe vp in peace to thine house: beholde, I haue heard thy voyce, and haue graunted thy petition. 36 So Abigail came to Nabal, and behold, he made a feast in his house, like the feast of a King, and Nabals heart was mery within him, for he was very drunken: wherefore shee tolde him nothing, neither lesse nor more, vntil the morning arose. 37 Then in the morning when the wine was gone out of Nabal, his wife tolde him those wordes, and his heart died within him, and he was like a stone. 38 And about ten dayes after, the Lord smote Nabal, that he dyed. 39 Now when Dauid heard, that Nabal was dead, he said, Blessed be the Lord that hath iudged the cause of my rebuke of ye hand of Nabal, and hath kept his seruant from euil: for the Lord hath recompensed the wickednesse of Nabal vpon his owne head. Also Dauid sent to commune with Abigail to take her to his wife. 40 And whe the seruants of Dauid were come to Abigail to Carmel, they spake vnto her, saying, Dauid sent vs to thee, to take thee to his wife. 41 And she arose, and bowed her selfe on her face to the earth, and said, Behold, let thine handmayde be a seruant to wash the feete of the seruants of my lord. 42 And Abigail hasted, & arose, and rode vpon an asse, and her fiue maides folowed her, and she went after the messengers of Dauid, and was his wife. 43 Dauid also tooke Ahinoam of Izreel, and they were both his wiues. 44 Now Saul had giuen Michal his daughter Dauids wife to Phalti the sonne of Laish, which was of Gallim.