Proverbs 24:10

If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small.

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

Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
faint	הִ֭תְרַפִּיתָ Hit.ra.pi.ta	H7503	to slacken (in many applications · verb, hithpael perfect, 2nd person masculine singular
day	בְּי֥וֹם be.Yom	H3117	a day (as the warm hours) · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct
adversity	צָרָ֗ה tza.Rah	H6869	tightness (i.e. figuratively · noun, common feminine singular absolute
strength	כֹּחֶֽכָה ko.Che.khah	H3581	vigor · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
small	צַ֣ר tzar	H6862	narrow · adjective, 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

Isaiah 40:28-31 Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is…
Ephesians 3:13 Wherefore I desire that ye faint not at my tribulations for you, which is your glory.
Jeremiah 51:46 And lest your heart faint, and ye fear for the rumour that shall be heard in the land; a rumour shall both come one year, and after that in…
1 Samuel 27:1 And David said in his heart, I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul: there is nothing better for me than that I should speedily esca…
Hebrews 12:3-5 For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.
Job 4:5 But now it is come upon thee, and thou faintest; it toucheth thee, and thou art troubled.
2 Corinthians 4:1 Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not;
Revelation 2:3 And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name’s sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted.

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

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Proverbs 24:10

Note, 1. In the day of adversity we are apt to faint, to droop and be discouraged, to desist from our work, and to despair of relief. Our spirits sink, and then our hands hang down and our knees grow feeble, and we become unfit for anything. And often those that are most cheerful when they are well droop most, and are most dejected, when any thing ails them. 2. This is an evidence that our strength is small, and is a means of weakening it more. "It is a sign that thou art not a man of any resolution, any firmness of thought, any consideration, any faith (for that is the strength of a soul), if thou canst not bear up under an afflictive change of thy condition." Some are so feeble that they c…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Proverbs 24:10

Literally, "If thou fail in the day of straits (adversity), strait (or, small) is thy strength," which is then truly tested.

John Gill on Proverbs 24:10

If thou faint in the day of adversity,.... When under bodily afflictions, stripping providences, reduced to great straits and wants; or under the violent persecutions of men, which is sometimes the case of the people of God; whose times are in his hands, times of adversity, as well as prosperity; and which are appointed by him, when they shall come, and how long they shall last; which is but for a short time, it is but a "day", and yet they are apt to "faint" under them, through the number and continuance of their afflictions; and especially when they apprehend them to be in wrath; when they have a sense of their sins at such a time, and no view of pardon; when they are under the hidings of…

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Keil & Delitzsch on Proverbs 24:10

The last of these four distichs stands without visible connection: Hast thou shown thyself slack in the day of adversity, Then is thy strength small. The perf. 10a is the hypothetic, vid., at Pro 22:29. If a man shows himself remiss (Pro 18:9), i.e., changeable, timorous, incapable of resisting in times of difficulty, then shall he draw therefrom the conclusion which is expressed in 10b. Rightly Luther, with intentional generalization, "he is not strong who is not firm in need." But the address makes the proverb an earnest admonition, which speaks to him who shows himself weak the judgment which he has to pronounce on himself. And the paronomasia צרה and צר may be rendered, where possible, "…

The Church Fathers

If you despair, being wearied in the day of distress, etc. Nothing is more detestable than despair, which those who have, lose the constancy of fortitude both in the general labors of this life and, which harms most, in the fight of faith.
— 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

Day · A time of judgment called a day of: Adversity — A time of judgment called a day of: Adversity
Doubting · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Young Men · 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).

Proverbs 24:10

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Proverbs 24:10

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Proverbs 24:10

John Gill on Proverbs 24:10

Keil & Delitzsch on Proverbs 24:10

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Proverbs 24:10

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Proverbs 24:10

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Proverbs 24:10

John Gill on Proverbs 24:10

Keil & Delitzsch on Proverbs 24:10

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Proverbs 24:10

Rashi on Proverbs 24:10