Proverbs 18:19
New International Version
A brother wronged is more unyielding than a fortified city; disputes are like the barred gates of a citadel.

New Living Translation
An offended friend is harder to win back than a fortified city. Arguments separate friends like a gate locked with bars.

English Standard Version
A brother offended is more unyielding than a strong city, and quarreling is like the bars of a castle.

Berean Standard Bible
An offended brother is harder to win than a fortified city, and disputes are like the bars of a castle.

King James Bible
A brother offended is harder to be won than a strong city: and their contentions are like the bars of a castle.

New King James Version
A brother offended is harder to win than a strong city, And contentions are like the bars of a castle.

New American Standard Bible
A brother who is offended is harder to be won than a strong city, And quarrels are like the bars of a citadel.

NASB 1995
A brother offended is harder to be won than a strong city, And contentions are like the bars of a citadel.

NASB 1977
A brother offended is harder to be won than a strong city, And contentions are like the bars of a castle.

Legacy Standard Bible
A brother offended is harder to win over than a strong city, And contentions are like the bars of a citadel.

Amplified Bible
A brother offended is harder to win over than a fortified city, And contentions [separating families] are like the bars of a castle.

Christian Standard Bible
An offended brother is harder to reach than a fortified city, and quarrels are like the bars of a fortress.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
An offended brother is harder to reach than a fortified city, and quarrels are like the bars of a fortress.

American Standard Version
A brother offended is harder to be won than a strong city; And such contentions are like the bars of a castle.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
A brother is helped by his brother, like a city by its fortress, and they hold it like the bars of a fortress.

Brenton Septuagint Translation
A brother helped by a brother is as a strong and high city; and is as strong as a well-founded palace.

Contemporary English Version
Making up with a friend you have offended is harder than breaking through a city wall.

Douay-Rheims Bible
A brother that is helped by his brother, is like a strong city: and judgments are like the bars of cities.

English Revised Version
A brother offended is harder to be won than a strong city: and such contentions are like the bars of a castle.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
An offended brother is more [resistant]than a strong city, and disputes are like the locked gate of a castle tower.

Good News Translation
Help your relatives and they will protect you like a strong city wall, but if you quarrel with them, they will close their doors to you.

International Standard Version
An offended brother is more unyielding than a fortified city, and his disputes are like the bars of a fortress.

JPS Tanakh 1917
A brother offended is harder to be won than a strong city; And their contentions are like the bars of a castle.

Literal Standard Version
A brother transgressed against is as a strong city, | And contentions as the bar of a palace.

Majority Standard Bible
An offended brother is harder to win than a fortified city, and disputes are like the bars of a castle.

New American Bible
A brother offended is more unyielding than a stronghold; such strife is more daunting than castle gates.

NET Bible
A relative offended is harder to reach than a strong city, and disputes are like the barred gates of a fortified citadel.

New Revised Standard Version
An ally offended is stronger than a city; such quarreling is like the bars of a castle.

New Heart English Bible
A brother offended is more difficult than a fortified city; and disputes are like the bars of a fortress.

Webster's Bible Translation
A brother offended is harder to be won than a strong city: and their contentions are like the bars of a castle.

World English Bible
A brother offended is more difficult than a fortified city. Disputes are like the bars of a fortress.

Young's Literal Translation
A brother transgressed against is as a strong city, And contentions as the bar of a palace.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
The Selfishness of the Unfriendly
18Casting the lot ends quarrels and separates strong opponents. 19An offended brother is harder to win than a fortified city, and disputes are like the bars of a castle. 20From the fruit of his mouth a man’s belly is filled; with the harvest from his lips he is satisfied.…

Cross References
1 Samuel 17:28
Now when David's oldest brother Eliab heard him speaking to the men, his anger burned against David. "Why have you come down here?" he asked. "And with whom did you leave those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your pride and wickedness of heart--you have come down to see the battle!"

Proverbs 18:18
Casting the lot ends quarrels and separates strong opponents.

Proverbs 18:20
From the fruit of his mouth a man's belly is filled; with the harvest from his lips he is satisfied.


Treasury of Scripture

A brother offended is harder to be won than a strong city: and their contentions are like the bars of a castle.

brother

Proverbs 6:19
A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.

Genesis 4:5-8
But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell…

Genesis 27:41-45
And Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing wherewith his father blessed him: and Esau said in his heart, The days of mourning for my father are at hand; then will I slay my brother Jacob…

than

Proverbs 16:32
He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city.

Jump to Previous
Acts Bar Barred Bars Castle Citadel City Contentions Difficult Disputes Fortified Gates Harder Helped Locked Offended Palace Quarreling Strong Tower Transgressed Unyielding Violent Won Wounded
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Acts Bar Barred Bars Castle Citadel City Contentions Difficult Disputes Fortified Gates Harder Helped Locked Offended Palace Quarreling Strong Tower Transgressed Unyielding Violent Won Wounded
Proverbs 18
1. A fool delights not in understanding














(19) A brother offended.--Or rather, wronged.

Their contentions.--Of such as have once been friends, "are like the bars of a castle," or palace, forming an almost impassable barrier to reconciliation. The bitterness of quarrels between friends is proverbial.

Verse 19. - A brother offended is harder to be won than a strong city. Something must be supplied on which the comparative notion min, "than," depends. So we may understand "resists more," or something similar. A brother or a once close friend, when injured or deceived, becomes a potent and irreconcilable enemy. The idea of the preceding verses is carried on, and the primary thought is still concerning lawsuits and matters brought before a judge. This is shown in the second clause by the use of the word "contentions" (midyanim). And their contentions are like the bars of a castle. They close the door against reconciliation, shut the heart against all feeling of tenderness. True it is, Ξαλεποὶ πόλεμοι ἀδελφῶν (Eurip., 'Fragm.'). And again, 'Iph. Aul.,' 376 -

Δεινὸν κασιγήτοισι γίγνεσθαι λόγους
Μάχας θ ὅταν ποτ ἐμπέσωσιν εἰς ἔριν. Aristotle also writes thus ('De Republ.,' 7:7): "If men receive no return from those to whom they have shown kindness, they deem themselves, not only defrauded of due gratitude, but actually injured. Whence it is said, 'Bitter are the quarrels of friends;' and, 'Those who love beyond measure also hate beyond measure.'" An English maxim gloomily decides, "Friendship once injured is forever lost." Pliny ('Hist. Nat.,' 37:4), "Ut adamas, si frangi contingat malleis, in minutissimas dissidit crustas, adeo ut vix oculis cerni queant: ita arctissima necessitudo, si quando contingat dirimi, in summam vertitur simultatem, et ex arctissimis foederibus, si semel rumpantur, maxima nascuntur dissidia." Ecclus. 6:9, "There is a friend, who being turned to enmity will also discover thy disgraceful strife," i.e. will disclose the quarrel which according to his representation will redound to thy discredit. The Vulgate and Septuagint have followed a different reading from that of the present Hebrew text: "Brother aided by brother is like a strong and high city, and he is powerful as a well founded palace," Septuagint. The last clause is rendered in the Vulgate. Et judicia quasi vectes urbium; where judicia means "lawsuits," legal disputes; these bar out friendship. The first member of the sentence in the Greek and Latin recalls Ecclesiastes 4:9, etc., "Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour," etc. St. Chrysostom, commenting on Ephesians 4:3 ('Hom.,' 9.), writes, "A glorious bond is this; with this bond let us bind ourselves together alike to one another and to God. This is a bond that bruises not, nor cramps the hands it binds, but it leaves them free, and gives them ample play and greater energy than those which are at liberty. The strong, if he be bound to the weak, will support him, and not suffer him to perish; and if again he be tied to the indolent, he will rather rouse and animate. 'Brother helped by brother,' it is said, 'is as a strong city.' This chain no distance of place can interrupt, neither heaven, nor earth, nor death, nor anything else, but it is more powerful and stronger than all things."

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
An offended
נִפְשָׁ֥ע (nip̄·šā‘)
Verb - Nifal - Participle - masculine singular
Strong's 6586: To break away, trespass, apostatize, quarrel

brother [is harder to win]
אָ֗ח (’āḥ)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 251: A brother, )

than a fortified
עֹ֑ז (‘ōz)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 5797: Strength, might

city,
מִקִּרְיַת־ (miq·qir·yaṯ-)
Preposition-m | Noun - feminine singular construct
Strong's 7151: A town, city

and disputes
וּ֝מִדְיָנִ֗ים (ū·miḏ·yā·nîm)
Conjunctive waw | Noun - masculine plural
Strong's 4066: A contest, quarrel

are like the bars
כִּבְרִ֥יחַ (kiḇ·rî·aḥ)
Preposition-k | Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 1280: A bolt

of a castle.
אַרְמֽוֹן׃ (’ar·mō·wn)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 759: A citadel


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OT Poetry: Proverbs 18:19 A brother offended is more difficult than (Prov. Pro Pr)
Proverbs 18:18
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