Proverbs 16:14

The wrath of a king is as messengers of death: but a wise man will pacify it.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
wrath	חֲמַת cha.mat-	H2534	heat · noun, common feminine singular construct
king	מֶ֥לֶךְ Me.lekh	H4428	a king · noun, common masculine singular absolute
messengers	מַלְאֲכֵי mal.'a.khei-	H4397	a messenger · noun, common masculine plural construct
death	מָ֑וֶת Ma.vet	H4194	death (natural or violent) · noun, common masculine singular absolute
wise	חָכָ֣ם cha.Kham	H2450	wise · adjective, masculine singular absolute
man	וְאִ֖ישׁ ve.'Ish	H376	a man as an individual or a male person · conjunction + noun, common masculine singular absolute
pacify	יְכַפְּרֶֽנָּה ye.khap.pe.Re.nah	H3722	to cover (specifically with bitumen) · verb, piel imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular + pronominal suffix, 3rd person feminine singular

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 20:2 The fear of a king is as the roaring of a lion: whoso provoketh him to anger sinneth against his own soul.
Proverbs 19:12 The king’s wrath is as the roaring of a lion; but his favour is as dew upon the grass.
Ecclesiastes 10:4 If the spirit of the ruler rise up against thee, leave not thy place; for yielding pacifieth great offences.
2 Kings 6:31-33 Then he said, God do so and more also to me, if the head of Elisha the son of Shaphat shall stand on him this day.
Proverbs 17:11 An evil man seeketh only rebellion: therefore a cruel messenger shall be sent against him.
Daniel 3:13-25 Then Nebuchadnezzar in his rage and fury commanded to bring Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego. Then they brought these men before the king.
Mark 6:27 And immediately the king sent an executioner, and commanded his head to be brought: and he went and beheaded him in the prison,
Luke 12:4-5 And I say unto you my friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do.

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

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Proverbs 16:14-15

These two verses show the power of kings, which is every where great, but was especially so in those eastern countries, where they were absolute and arbitrary. Whom they would they slew and whom they would they kept alive. Their will was a law. We have reason to bless God for the happy constitution of the government we live under, which maintains the prerogative of the prince without any injury to the liberty of the subject. But here it is intimated, 1. How formidable the wrath of a king is: It is as messengers of death; the wrath of Ahasuerus was so to Haman. An angry word from an incensed prince has been to many a messenger of death, and has struck so great a terror upon some as if a sente…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Proverbs 16:14

This wrath, so terrible and certain, like messengers of death (Kg1 2:25), can be appeased by the wise.

John Gill on Proverbs 16:14

The wrath of a king is as messengers of death,.... Or, "angels of death", as the Targum. As the wrath of Ahasuerus was to Haman; when it is either discovered in the countenance of a king, or expressed by his words, or signified by a messenger; it sometimes has been immediate death to a person, and often as terrible as if a messenger brought the sentence of death; yea, it is as if one messenger after another was sent on such an errand, and therefore the word is in the plural number. How terrible is the wrath of the King of kings; and even to kings themselves, who are represented as flying to rocks and mountains to hide them from it! Revelation 6:15; but a wise man will pacify it; by a proper…

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Keil & Delitzsch on Proverbs 16:14

14 The wrath of the king is like messengers of death; But a wise man appeaseth him. The clause: the wrath of the king is many messengers of death, can be regarded as the attribution of the effect, but it falls under the point of view of likeness, instead of comparison: if the king is angry, it is as if a troop of messengers or angels of death went forth to visit with death him against whom the anger is kindled; the plur. serves for the strengthening of the figure: not one messenger of death, but at the same time several, the wrinkled brow, the flaming eye, the threatening voice of the king sends forth (Fleischer). But if he against whom the wrath of the king has thus broken forth is a wise m…

The Church Fathers

And a wise man will appease him. For he can appease God by repenting, whom he happened to offend by speaking foolishly.
— Bede, Commentary on Proverbs

The king's indignation is messengers of death. The messengers of death are the angels of Satan, that is, heretics and vain philosophers; indeed, all who announce those words to their neighbors, by which they are taken away to eternal death. The more they serve the author of death, the more they gravely offend the giver of life; yet the path of repentance is not closed to such. For it is added...
— Bede, Commentary on Proverbs

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
Citizens · DUTIES OF — DUTIES OF
Executioner · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Kings · When good: Are pacified by submission — When good: Are pacified by submission

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).

Proverbs 16:14

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Proverbs 16:14-15

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Proverbs 16:14

John Gill on Proverbs 16:14

Keil & Delitzsch on Proverbs 16:14

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Proverbs 16:14

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Proverbs 16:14-15

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Proverbs 16:14

John Gill on Proverbs 16:14

Keil & Delitzsch on Proverbs 16:14

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Proverbs 16:14-15

Rashi on Proverbs 16:14