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Read the Bible

The Holy Bible, Berean Study Bible

Proverbs 21:14

A gift in secret soothes anger, and a covert bribe pacifies great wrath.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Bribery;   The Topic Concordance - Anger;  

Dictionaries:

- Charles Buck Theological Dictionary - Pardon;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Dress;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Proverbs, Book of;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Bosom ;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Bosom;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Alms;   Eleazar Ii. (Lazar);   Gifts;   ḥanina B. Pappa;   Ẓedaḳah Box;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
A secret gift soothes anger,and a covert bribe, fierce rage.
Hebrew Names Version
A gift in secret pacifies anger; And a bribe in the cloak, strong wrath.
King James Version
A gift in secret pacifieth anger: and a reward in the bosom strong wrath.
English Standard Version
A gift in secret averts anger, and a concealed bribe, strong wrath.
New American Standard Bible
A gift in secret subdues anger, And a bribe in an inside pocket, strong wrath.
New Century Version
A secret gift will calm an angry person; a present given in secrecy will quiet great anger.
Amplified Bible
A gift in secret subdues anger, And a bribe [hidden] in the pocket, strong wrath.
World English Bible
A gift in secret pacifies anger; And a bribe in the cloak, strong wrath.
Geneva Bible (1587)
A gift in secret pacifieth anger, and a gift in the bosome great wrath.
Legacy Standard Bible
A gift in secret subdues anger,And a bribe in the bosom, strong wrath.
Contemporary English Version
A secret bribe will save you from someone's fierce anger.
Complete Jewish Bible
A secret gift allays anger, and a bribe under the cloak the strongest fury.
Darby Translation
A gift in secret pacifieth anger; and a present in the bosom, vehement fury.
Easy-to-Read Version
If anyone is angry with you, give them a gift in private. A gift given in secret will calm even the strongest anger.
George Lamsa Translation
A gift in secret pacifies anger; but he who is sparing with his gifts stirs wrath.
Good News Translation
If someone is angry with you, a gift given secretly will calm him down.
Lexham English Bible
A gift in secret will avert anger, and a concealed bribe, strong wrath.
Literal Translation
A gift in secret subdues anger; yea, a bribe in the bosom quiets great fury.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
A preuy rewarde pacifieth displeasure, and a gifte in the bosome stilleth furiousnesse.
American Standard Version
A gift in secret pacifieth anger; And a present in the bosom, strong wrath.
Bible in Basic English
By a secret offering wrath is turned away, and the heat of angry feelings by money in the folds of the robe.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
A gift in secret pacifieth anger, and a present in the bosom strong wrath.
King James Version (1611)
A gift in secret pacifieth anger; and a reward in the bosome, strong wrath.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
A priuie rewarde pacifieth displeasure: and a gyft in the bosome [stylleth] furiousnesse.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
A secret gift calms anger: but he that forbears to give stirs up strong wrath.
English Revised Version
A gift in secret pacifieth anger, and a present in the bosom strong wrath.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
A yift hid quenchith chidyngis; and a yift in bosum quenchith the moost indignacioun.
Update Bible Version
A gift in secret pacifies anger; And a present in the bosom, strong wrath.
Webster's Bible Translation
A gift in secret pacifieth anger: and a reward in the bosom, strong wrath.
New English Translation
A gift given in secret subdues anger, and a bribe given secretly subdues strong wrath.
New King James Version
A gift in secret pacifies anger,And a bribe behind the back, [fn] strong wrath.
New Living Translation
A secret gift calms anger; a bribe under the table pacifies fury.
New Life Bible
A gift in secret quiets anger. A gift from the heart quiets strong anger.
New Revised Standard
A gift in secret averts anger; and a concealed bribe in the bosom, strong wrath.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
A gift in secret, quencheth anger, and, a present in the bosom, mighty wrath.
Douay-Rheims Bible
A secret present quencheth anger: and a gift in the bosom, the greatest wrath.
Revised Standard Version
A gift in secret averts anger; and a bribe in the bosom, strong wrath.
Young's Literal Translation
A gift in secret pacifieth anger, And a bribe in the bosom strong fury.
THE MESSAGE
A quietly given gift soothes an irritable person; a heartfelt present cools a hot temper.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
A gift in secret subdues anger, And a bribe in the bosom, strong wrath.

Contextual Overview

14A gift in secret soothes anger, and a covert bribe pacifies great wrath.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

gift: Proverbs 17:8, Proverbs 17:23, Proverbs 18:16, Proverbs 19:6, Genesis 32:20, Genesis 43:11, 1 Samuel 25:35

in secret: Matthew 6:3, Matthew 6:4

Reciprocal: Genesis 21:27 - took Genesis 32:13 - a present Judges 3:15 - sent a present 1 Samuel 25:18 - took two

Cross-References

Genesis 16:7
Now the Angel of the LORD found Hagar by a spring of water in the desert-the spring along the road to Shur.
Genesis 19:27
Early the next morning, Abraham got up and returned to the place where he had stood before the LORD.
Genesis 21:6
Then Sarah said, "God has made me laugh, and everyone who hears of this will laugh with me."
Genesis 21:7
She added, "Who would have told Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age."
Genesis 21:23
Now, therefore, swear to me here before God that you will not deal falsely with me or my children or descendants. Show to me and to the country in which you reside the same kindness that I have shown to you."
Genesis 21:25
But when Abraham complained to Abimelech about a well that Abimelech's servants had seized,
Genesis 21:31
So that place was called Beersheba, because it was there that the two of them swore an oath.
Genesis 21:33
And Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba, and there he called upon the name of the LORD, the Eternal God.
Genesis 22:3
So Abraham got up early the next morning, saddled his donkey, and took along two of his servants and his son Isaac. He split wood for a burnt offering and set out for the place God had designated.
Genesis 22:19
Abraham went back to his servants, and they got up and set out together for Beersheba. And Abraham settled in Beersheba.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

A gift in secret pacifieth anger,.... Appeases an angry man; humbles and "brings [his anger] down" y, as Aben Ezra and Gersom observe the word signifies; which before rose very high, and showed itself in big words and disdainful looks, as proud wrath does; or extinguishes it, as the Targum and Vulgate Latin version render it, and very fitly. Anger is a fire in the breast; and a restraining or causing it to cease is properly expressed by an extinguishing of it: this a gift or present does, as it did in Esau from Jacob, in David from Abigail; but then it must be secretly given, otherwise it may more provoke; since it may show vanity in the giver, and covetousness in the receiver; and the former may have more honour than the latter. Some understand this of a gift for a bribe to a judge, to abate the severity of the sentence; and others of alms deeds to the poor, to pacify the anger of God z: Jarchi interprets it of alms; and the Jews write this sentence upon the poor's box, understanding it in this sense; but the first sense is best;

and a reward in the bosom strong wrath: the same thing in different words; the meaning is, that a reward or gift, secretly conveyed into the bosom of an angry man, pacifies his wrath, when at the greatest height. The Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic versions, understand it in a quite different sense, of a gift retained in the bosom, and not given, and render it thus, "he that spareth gifts stirreth up strong wrath".

y יכפה "deprimit", Piscator; so some in Mercerus; "subigit", Cocceius; "pensat nasum", Schultens. z "Munera (crede mihi) placant hominesque deosque", Ovid. de Arte Amandi, l. 3.


 
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