Proverbs 25:15
WEB
By patience a ruler is persuaded. A soft tongue breaks the bone.
BSB
Through patience a ruler can be persuaded, and a gentle tongue can break a bone.
KJV
By long forbearing is a prince persuaded, and a soft tongue breaketh the bone.
Matthew Henry
Hebrew interlinear
H753
n-m — length
Derivation: from 748;
length
KJV: forever, length, long.
n.[m.] — length
אֹ֫רֶךְ 94 n.[m.] length
a. length
b. of time
c. forbearance, self-restraint
H639
n-m — nose, nostril, face, person, ire
Derivation: from 599;
properly, the nose or nostril; hence, the face, and occasionally a person; also (from the rapid breathing in passion) ire
KJV: anger(-gry), before, countenance, face, forebearing, forehead, (long-) suffering, nose, nostril, snout, × worthy, wrath.
n.m — nostril
אַף 277 n.m. nostril, nose, face, anger
1. nostril, as organ of breathing
2. Dn. face
3. mostly anger
H6601
v — open, be, make, roomy, be, make, simple, delude
Derivation: a primitive root;
to open, i.e. be (causatively, make) roomy; usually figuratively (in a mental or moral sense) to be (causatively, make) simple or (in a sinister way) delude
KJV: allure, deceive, enlarge, entice, flatter, persuade, silly (one).
vb — be spacious
[פָּתָה] vb. be spacious, wide, open
Qal poss. one open as to lips
Hiph. may God make wide for Japhet (give him an extensive inheritance)
vb. denom — be simple
[פָּתָה] vb. denom. be simple
Qal
1. be open-minded (?), simple
2. be enticed, deceived
Niph. be deceived
Piel
1. persuade, woman, seduce, virgin; entice, husband; a man to sin
2. deceive
Pual
1. be persuaded
2. be deceived
H7101
n-m — magistrate, deciding, leader
Derivation: from 7096 in the sense of determining;
a magistrate (as deciding) or other leader
KJV: captain, guide, prince, ruler. Compare 6278.
n.m — chief
קָצִין n.m. chief, ruler
1. chief, commander, in war
2. dictator
3. more gen., ruled, man in authority
H3956
n-m — tongue
Derivation: or לָשֹׁן; also (in plural) feminine לְשֹׁנָה; from 3960;
the tongue (of man or animals), used literally (as the instrument of licking, eating, or speech), and figuratively (speech, an ingot, a fork of flame, a cove of water)
KJV: babbler, bay, evil speaker, language, talker, tongue, wedge.
n.m — tongue
לָשׁוֹן n.m. and (more oft.) f. tongue
1. tongue of men
2. = language
3. tongue of animals
4. tongue of fire
5. = (tongue-shaped) wedge of gold
6. = (tongue-shaped) bay of sea
H7390
a — tender, weak
Derivation: from 7401;
tender (literally or figuratively); by implication, weak
KJV: faint((-hearted), soft, tender ((-hearted), one), weak.
adj — tender
רַךְ adj. tender, delicate, soft
H7665
v — burst
Derivation: a primitive root;
to burst (literally or figuratively)
KJV: break (down, off, in pieces, up), broken (-hearted), bring to the birth, crush, destroy, hurt, quench, × quite, tear, view (by mistake for 7663).
vb — break
שָׁבַר 148 vb. break, break in pieces
Qal 53 break, lit.
Niph. 57 be broken
Pi. 26 shatter, break
Hiph. cause to break out, i.e. bring to the birth
Hoph. be broken, shattered (in heart)
H1634
n-m — bone, self, very
Derivation: from 1633;
a bone (as the skeleton of the body); hence, self, i.e. (figuratively) very
KJV: bone, strong, top.
n.[m.] — bone
גֶּ֫רֶם n.[m.] bone, strength, self (?)
Bible49 app
Get translation compare, commentary, and interlinear study — offline, on iPhone and Mac.
See Bible49
Verse 15
Proverbs 25:15
Two things are here recommended to us, in dealing with others, as likely means to gain our point: - 1. Patience, to bear a present heat without being put into a heat by it, and to wait for a fit opportunity to offer our reasons and to give persons time to consider them. By this means even a prince may be persuaded to do a thing which he seemed very averse to, much more a common person. That which is justice and reason now will be so another time, and therefore we need not urge them with violence now, but wait for a more convenient season. 2. Mildness, to speak without passion or provocation: A soft tongue breaks the bone; it mollifies the roughest spirits and overcomes those that are most morose, like lightning, which, they say, has sometimes broken the bone, and yet not pierced the flesh. Gideon with a soft tongue pacified the Ephraimites and Abigail turned away David's wrath. Hard words, we say, break no bones, and therefore we should bear them patiently; but, it seems, soft words do, and therefore we should, on all occasions, give them prudently.