Proverbs 19:3

The foolishness of man perverteth his way: and his heart fretteth against the LORD.

King James Version · Read in your translation · Open the Explore console

Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
foolishness	אִוֶּ֣לֶת 'i.Ve.let	H200	silliness · noun, common feminine singular construct
man	אָ֭דָם 'A.dom	H120	ruddy i.e. a human being (an individual or the species · noun, common masculine singular absolute
perverteth	תְּסַלֵּ֣ף te.sa.Lef	H5557	properly · verb, piel imperfect, 3rd person feminine singular
way	דַּרְכּ֑וֹ dar.Ko	H1870	a road (as trodden) · noun, common both genders singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
heart	לִבּֽוֹ li.Bo	H3820	the heart · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
fretteth	יִזְעַ֥ף yiz.'Af	H2196	properly · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
LORD	יְ֝הוָ֗ה Yah.weh	H3068	Jehovah · proper noun, a title

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

Revelation 16:9-11 And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give hi…
Psalms 37:7 Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for him: fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wic…
Proverbs 11:3 The integrity of the upright shall guide them: but the perverseness of transgressors shall destroy them.
1 Samuel 22:13-23 And Saul said unto him, Why have ye conspired against me, thou and the son of Jesse, in that thou hast given him bread, and a sword, and has…
2 Chronicles 16:9-10 For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect towa…
Numbers 16:19-41 And Korah gathered all the congregation against them unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation: and the glory of the LORD appeared…
Genesis 3:6-12 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she…
Genesis 4:5-14 But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell.

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

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Proverbs 19:3

We have here two instances of men's folly: - 1. That they bring themselves into straits and troubles, and run themselves a-ground, and embarrass themselves: The foolishness of man perverts his way. Men meet with crosses and disappointments in their affairs, and things do not succeed as they expected and wished, and it is owing to themselves and their own folly; it is their own iniquity that corrects them. 2. That when they have done so they lay the blame upon God, and their hearts fret against him, as if he had done them wrong, whereas really they wrong themselves. In fretting, we are enemies to our own peace, and become self-tormentors; in fretting against the Lord we affront him, his justi…

Read the whole note in the console

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Proverbs 19:3

perverteth . . . way--turns him back from right (Pro 13:6; Jam 1:13); and he blames God for his failures.

John Gill on Proverbs 19:3

The foolishness of man perverteth his way,.... The sinfulness of his heart and nature; the folly which is bound up in it causes him to go astray out of the way in which he should go, or makes things go cross with him; so that the ways he takes do not prosper, nor his schemes succeed; but everything goes against him, and he is brought into straits and difficulties; and his heart fretteth against the Lord; laying all the blame on him; and ascribing his ill success, not to his own sin and folly, but to divine Providence, which works against him; and therefore frets and murmurs at him; and, instead of charging his own ways with folly, charges the ways of God with inequality; see Ezekiel 18:25.

Keil & Delitzsch on Proverbs 19:3

3 The foolishness of a man overturneth his way, And his heart is angry against Jahve. Regarding סלף, vid., at Pro 11:3; also the Arab. signification "to go before" proceeds from the root conception pervertere, for first a letting precede, or preceding (e.g., of the paying before the delivery of that which is paid for: salaf, a pre-numbering, and then also: advanced money), consisting in the reversal of the natural order, is meant. The way is here the way of life, the walking: the folly of a man overturns, i.e., destroys, his life's-course; but although he is himself the fabricator of his own ruin, yet the ill-humour (זעף, aestuare, vid., at Psa 11:6) of his heart turns itself against God, an…

The Church Fathers

Grace is not bestowed according to human merits; otherwise grace would be no longer grace. For grace is so designated because it is given gratuitously.
— Augustine of Hippo, ON GRACE AND FREE WILL 21:43

The foolishness of a man supplanteth his steps, etc. It is the habit of fools, that when they abandon the way of truth through sinning, they do not admit they have erred, but refer the origin of guilt to their Creator, as if He has given the opportunity for sinning, either because He made man fragile, or because He allowed a crafty enemy to tempt him. Hence also the first parent of our race, after the excess of transgression, being reproved by the Lord, instantly fled to the defense of an excuse, saying: The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate (Gen. III). And the woman said: The serpent deceived me (Ibid.). For they indeed turned against the Creator what they had sinned: he, that he had received a woman from the Lord as a companion through whom he perished; she, that the Lord had placed the serpent who deceived her in paradise. Against this the Wise Man prays to the Lord not to incline his heart to an evil word, to excuse excuses in sins. But also, he, failing his steps against God, burns with fervor in his mind, who, despising divine commands through his own inertia, even reproaches God Himself with an insane mind, as if He had imposed unbearable burdens on men.
— 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

Blindness · 21:14;22:13,14; — 21:14;22:13,14;
Heart, Character Of The Unrenewed · Fretful against the Lord — Fretful against the Lord
Murmuring · AGAINST GO — AGAINST GO
Resignation · The wicked are devoid of — The wicked are devoid of

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 19:3

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Proverbs 19:3

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Proverbs 19:3

John Gill on Proverbs 19:3

Keil & Delitzsch on Proverbs 19:3

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Proverbs 19:3

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Proverbs 19:3

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Proverbs 19:3

John Gill on Proverbs 19:3

Keil & Delitzsch on Proverbs 19:3

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Proverbs 19:3

Rashi on Proverbs 19:3