Lectionary Calendar
Saturday, April 26th, 2025
Saturday in Easter Week
Attention!
Take your personal ministry to the Next Level by helping StudyLight build churches and supporting pastors in Uganda.
Click here to join the effort!

Read the Bible

Contemporary English Version

Proverbs 25:9

When you and someone else can't get along, don't gossip about it.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Adjudication at Law;   Compromise;   Lawsuits;   Prudence;   Secret;   Thompson Chain Reference - Secrets;   The Topic Concordance - Haste;   Strife;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Proverb, the Book of;   Charles Buck Theological Dictionary - Pardon;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Proverbs, Book of;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Discover;   Greek Versions of Ot;   Proverbs, Book of;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Arbitration;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Debate;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Make your case with your opponentwithout revealing another’s secret;
Hebrew Names Version
Debate your case with your neighbor, And don't betray the confidence of another;
King James Version
Debate thy cause with thy neighbour himself; and discover not a secret to another:
English Standard Version
Argue your case with your neighbor himself, and do not reveal another's secret,
New American Standard Bible
Argue your case with your neighbor, And do not reveal the secret of another,
New Century Version
If you have an argument with your neighbor, don't tell other people what was said.
Amplified Bible
Argue your case with your neighbor himself [before you go to court]; And do not reveal another's secret,
World English Bible
Debate your case with your neighbor, And don't betray the confidence of another;
Geneva Bible (1587)
Debate thy matter with thy neighbour, and discouer not the secret to another,
Legacy Standard Bible
Plead your case with your neighbor,And do not reveal the secret of another,
Berean Standard Bible
Argue your case with your neighbor without betraying another's confidence,
Complete Jewish Bible
Discuss your dispute with your neighbor, but don't reveal another person's secrets.
Darby Translation
Debate thy cause with thy neighbour, but reveal not the secret of another;
Easy-to-Read Version
If you want to tell your friends about your own problems, tell them. But don't discuss what someone told you in private.
George Lamsa Translation
Debate your cause with your neighbor himself; and do not disclose the secret to another,
Good News Translation
If you and your neighbor have a difference of opinion, settle it between yourselves and do not reveal any secrets.
Lexham English Bible
Argue your argument with your neighbor himself, the secret of another do not disclose,
Literal Translation
Contend for your cause with your neighbor, and do not uncover the secret of another,
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Handle thy matter wt yi neghbor himself, & discouer not another mans secrete:
American Standard Version
Debate thy cause with thy neighbor himself, And disclose not the secret of another;
Bible in Basic English
Have a talk with your neighbour himself about your cause, but do not give away the secret of another:
JPS Old Testament (1917)
Debate thy cause with thy neighbour, but reveal not the secret of another;
King James Version (1611)
Debate thy cause with thy neighbour himselfe; and discouer not a secret to another:
Bishop's Bible (1568)
Handle thy matter with thy neighbour himselfe, and discouer not thy secrete to another:
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
lest I be filled and become false, and say, Who sees me? or be poor and steal, and swear vainly by the name of God.
English Revised Version
Debate thy cause with thy neighbour himself, and disclose not the secret of another:
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Trete thi cause with thi frend, and schewe thou not priuyte to a straunge man;
Update Bible Version
Debate your cause with your neighbor [himself], And don't disclose the secret of another;
Webster's Bible Translation
Debate thy cause with thy neighbor [himself]; and reveal not a secret to another:
New English Translation
When you argue a case with your neighbor, do not reveal the secret of another person,
New King James Version
Debate your case with your neighbor, And do not disclose the secret to another;
New Living Translation
When arguing with your neighbor, don't betray another person's secret.
New Life Bible
Argue your side of the problem with your neighbor, but do not tell the secret of another.
New Revised Standard
Argue your case with your neighbor directly, and do not disclose another's secret;
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Thy contention, urge thou with thy neighbour, and, the secret of another, do not reveal:
Douay-Rheims Bible
Treat thy cause with thy friend, and discover not the secret to a stranger:
Revised Standard Version
Argue your case with your neighbor himself, and do not disclose another's secret;
Young's Literal Translation
Thy cause plead with thy neighbour, And the secret counsel of another reveal not,
THE MESSAGE
In the heat of an argument, don't betray confidences; Word is sure to get around, and no one will trust you.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
Argue your case with your neighbor, And do not reveal the secret of another,

Contextual Overview

8 before you sue someone, or you might lose your case and be embarrassed. 9 When you and someone else can't get along, don't gossip about it. 10 Others will find out, and your reputation will then be ruined.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

with: Matthew 18:5-17

a secret to another: or, the secret of another, Proverbs 11:13, Proverbs 20:19

Reciprocal: Genesis 9:22 - told Genesis 21:25 - reproved Joshua 22:13 - Phinehas Judges 11:12 - sent messengers 2 Samuel 13:22 - spake Proverbs 3:30 - General Matthew 5:24 - there Matthew 18:15 - go Luke 12:58 - thou goest

Cross-References

Genesis 25:9
His sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him east of Hebron in Machpelah Cave that was part of the field Abraham had bought from Ephron son of Zohar the Hittite. Abraham was buried there beside his wife Sarah.
Genesis 25:20
and he was forty years old when he married Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel. She was also the sister of Laban, the Aramean from northern Syria. Almost twenty years later,
Genesis 25:29
One day, Jacob was cooking some stew, when Esau came home hungry
Genesis 25:30
and said, "I'm starving to death! Give me some of that red stew right now!" That's how Esau got the name "Edom."
Genesis 50:13
They took him to Canaan and buried him in Machpelah Cave, the burial place Abraham had bought from Ephron the Hittite.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Debate thy cause with thy neighbour [himself],.... Between thee and him alone; lay the matter before him, and hear what he has to say for himself, by which you will better judge of the nature of the cause; try to compromise things, and make up the difference between you, which is much better than to commence a lawsuit; at least such a step should be taken first; see Matthew 5:25;

and discover not a secret to another; if the thing in controversy is a secret, do not acquaint another person with it; keep it among yourselves, if the affair can be made up without bringing it into a court of judicature; besides, by communicating it to others, you may have bad counsel given, and be led to take indirect methods: or, "the secret of another", or, "another secret do not discover" b; if you know anything scandalous and reproachful of your neighbour and his family, you are contending with, which does not concern the cause in hand, do not divulge it, as persons from a spirit of revenge are apt to do, when they are quarrelling or litigating a point with each other.

b סוד אחר "secretum alterius", Pagninus, Montanus; "arcanum alterius", Tigurine version, Junius Tremellius, Piscator, Mercerus, Michaelis, Schultens, so Cocceius, Gejerus "arcanum aliud", Munster; "alienum", Syriac version.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

An anticipation of the highest standard of ethical refinement Matthew 18:15, but with a difference. Here the motive is prudential, the risk of shame, the fear of the irretrievable infamy of the betrayer of secrets. In the teaching of Christ the precept rests upon the divine authority and the perfect example.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Proverbs 25:9. Debate thy cause with thy neighbour — Take the advice of friends. Let both sides attend to their counsels; but do not tell the secret of thy business to any. After squandering your money away upon lawyers, both they and the judge will at last leave it to be settled by twelve of your fellow citizens! O the folly of going to law! O the blindness of men, and the rapacity of unprincipled lawyers!

On this subject I cannot but give the following extract from Sir John Hawkins's Life of Dr. Johnson, which he quotes from Mr. Selwin, of London: "A man who deliberates about going to law should have,

1. A good cause;

2. A good purse;

3. A good skilful attorney;

4. Good evidence;

5. Good able counsel;

6. A good upright judge;

7. A good intelligent jury; and with all these on his side, if he have not,

8. Good luck, it is odds but he miscarries in his suit." O the glorious uncertainty of the law!


 
adsfree-icon
Ads FreeProfile