Proverbs 15:1

A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
soft	רַּ֭ךְ rakh	H7390	tender (literally or figuratively) · adjective, masculine singular absolute
answer	מַֽעֲנֶה ma.'a.neh-	H4617	a reply (favorable or contradictory) · noun, common masculine singular absolute
turneth	יָשִׁ֣יב ya.Shiv	H7725	to turn back (hence · verb, hiphil imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
wrath	חֵמָ֑ה che.Mah	H2534	heat · noun, common feminine singular absolute
grievous	עֶ֝֗צֶב 'E.tzev	H6089	an earthen vessel · noun, common masculine singular absolute
words	וּדְבַר u.de.var-	H1697	a word · conjunction + noun, common masculine singular construct
up	יַעֲלֶה ya.'a.leh-	H5927	to ascend · verb, hiphil imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
anger	אָֽף 'Af	H639	properly · noun, common masculine singular absolute

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

Proverbs 10:12 Hatred stirreth up strifes: but love covereth all sins.
Proverbs 25:15 By long forbearing is a prince persuaded, and a soft tongue breaketh the bone.
Proverbs 15:18 A wrathful man stirreth up strife: but he that is slow to anger appeaseth strife.
Proverbs 29:22 An angry man stirreth up strife, and a furious man aboundeth in transgression.
Proverbs 28:25 He that is of a proud heart stirreth up strife: but he that putteth his trust in the LORD shall be made fat.
Judges 8:1-3 And the men of Ephraim said unto him, Why hast thou served us thus, that thou calledst us not, when thou wentest to fight with the Midianite…
1 Samuel 25:10-13 And Nabal answered David’s servants, and said, Who is David? and who is the son of Jesse? there be many servants now a days that break away…
1 Kings 12:13-16 And the king answered the people roughly, and forsook the old men’s counsel that they gave him;

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

John Gill on Proverbs 15:1

A soft answer turneth away wrath,.... Mild words, gentle expressions, delivered with kindness and tenderness, humility and submission; these will work upon a man's passions, weaken his resentments, and break and scatter the storm of wrath raised in his breast, just breaking forth in a very boisterous and blustering manner; so high winds are sometimes laid by soft showers. Thus the Ephraimites were pacified by Gideon's mild answer; and David by Abigail's very submissive and respectful address, Judges 8:1; but grievous words stir up anger; such as are rough and menacing, scornful and sneering, reproachful and reviling, proud, haughty, and overbearing; like those of Jephthah to the Ephraimites…

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Keil & Delitzsch on Proverbs 15:1-6

We take these verses together as forming a group which begins with a proverb regarding the good and evil which flows from the tongue, and closes with a proverb regarding the treasure in which blessing is found, and that in which no blessing is found. Pro 15:1 1 A soft answer turneth away wrath, And a bitter word stirreth up anger. In the second line, the common word for anger (אף, from the breathing with the nostrils, Pro 14:17) is purposely placed, but in the first, that which denotes anger in the highest degree (חמה from יחם, cogn. חמם, Arab. hamiya, to glow, like שׁנה from ישׁן): a mild, gentle word turns away the heat of anger (excandescentiam), puts it back, cf. Pro 25:15. The Dagesh in…

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Tyndale Open Study Notes on Proverbs 15:1

Moderating emotions and suiting them to the context helps others listen to what we say without reacting.

Henry, Jamieson-Fausset-Brown, Clarke, Gill, Calvin and Keil & Delitzsch are in the public domain; Tyndale Open Study Notes © Tyndale House Publishers, CC BY-SA 4.0 — all from the Free Use Bible API (bible.helloao.org). Rashi: the Rosenbaum & Silbermann Pentateuch (public domain) and the Judaica Press and Metsudah Tanakh (CC BY), via Sefaria. Spurgeon's Treasury of David: public domain (lyteword's markdown edition, CC0).

The Church Fathers

A soft answer turns away wrath, etc. He who humbly receives words of reproach already approaches pardon for the guilt he carried; but he who arrogantly resists reproach, provokes greater wrath from the strict judge.
— Bede, Commentary on Proverbs

Poemen said, 'If a man sins and denies it, saying, "I have not sinned," do not correct him, or you will destroy any intention he might have of changing. If you say, "Do not be cast down, my brother, but be careful about that in future," you will move his heart to repent.'
— Desert Fathers, The Desert Fathers, Sayings of the Early Christian Monks

Receive into thy ears the teaching of the great Solomon: God hates the poor man to be a pleader on high. [Prov. 23:11] Therefore submit thyself, and give honour to Him that is powerful; for the soft speech-thou knowest the proverb-melts. [Prov. 15:1] One is conquered by service, even although there be an ancient anger.
— Commodian, On Christian Discipline, LXXII

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Anger · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Meekness · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Speaking · EVIL — EVIL
Tact · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).