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Tuesday, April 29th, 2025
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Read the Bible

Good News Translation

Proverbs 21:14

If someone is angry with you, a gift given secretly will calm him down.

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.
Berean Standard Bible
A gift in secret soothes anger, and a covert bribe pacifies great 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.
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

14 If someone is angry with you, a gift given secretly will calm him down.

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
The angel of the Lord met Hagar at a spring in the desert on the road to Shur
Genesis 19:27
Early the next morning Abraham hurried to the place where he had stood in the presence of the Lord .
Genesis 21:6
Sarah said, "God has brought me joy and laughter. Everyone who hears about it will laugh with me."
Genesis 21:7
Then she added, "Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age."
Genesis 21:23
So make a vow here in the presence of God that you will not deceive me, my children, or my descendants. I have been loyal to you, so promise that you will also be loyal to me and to this country in which you are living."
Genesis 21:25
Abraham complained to Abimelech about a well which the servants of Abimelech had seized.
Genesis 21:31
And so the place was called Beersheba, because it was there that the two of them made a vow.
Genesis 21:33
Then Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba and worshiped the Lord , the Everlasting God.
Genesis 22:3
Early the next morning Abraham cut some wood for the sacrifice, loaded his donkey, and took Isaac and two servants with him. They started out for the place that God had told him about.
Genesis 22:19
Abraham went back to his servants, and they went together to Beersheba, where Abraham settled.

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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