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THE MESSAGE

Proverbs 3:30

Don't walk around with a chip on your shoulder, always spoiling for a fight. Don't try to be like those who shoulder their way through life. Why be a bully? "Why not?" you say. Because God can't stand twisted souls. It's the straightforward who get his respect.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Young Men;   Thompson Chain Reference - Strife;   Unity-Strife;   The Topic Concordance - Strife;  

Dictionaries:

- Holman Bible Dictionary - Proverbs, Book of;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Proverbs book of;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Don’t accuse anyone without cause,when he has done you no harm.
Hebrew Names Version
Don't strive with a man without cause, If he has done you no harm.
King James Version
Strive not with a man without cause, if he have done thee no harm.
English Standard Version
Do not contend with a man for no reason, when he has done you no harm.
New Century Version
Don't accuse a person for no good reason; don't accuse someone who has not harmed you.
New English Translation
Do not accuse anyone without legitimate cause, if he has not treated you wrongly.
Amplified Bible
Do not quarrel with a man without cause, If he has done you no harm.
New American Standard Bible
Do not contend with a person for no reason, If he has done you no harm.
World English Bible
Don't strive with a man without cause, If he has done you no harm.
Geneva Bible (1587)
Striue not with a man causelesse, when he hath done thee no harme.
Legacy Standard Bible
Do not contend with a man without cause,If he has dealt you no harm.
Berean Standard Bible
Do not accuse a man without cause, when he has done you no harm.
Contemporary English Version
Don't argue just to be arguing, when you haven't been hurt.
Complete Jewish Bible
Don't quarrel with someone for no reason, if he has done you no harm.
Darby Translation
Strive not with a man without cause, if he have done thee no harm.
Easy-to-Read Version
Don't take people to court without good reason, especially when they have done nothing to harm you.
George Lamsa Translation
Do not contend with a man without a cause, if he has done you no harm.
Good News Translation
Don't argue with others for no reason when they have never done you any harm.
Lexham English Bible
Do not quarrel with anyone without cause, when he did not do you harm.
Literal Translation
Do not strive with a man without cause, if he has done you no harm.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Stryue not lightly wt eny man, where as he hath done ye no harme.
American Standard Version
Strive not with a man without cause, If he have done thee no harm.
Bible in Basic English
Do not take up a cause at law against a man for nothing, if he has done you no wrong.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
Strive not with a man without cause, if he have done thee no harm.
King James Version (1611)
Striue not with a man without cause, if hee haue done thee no harme.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
Striue not with any man without a cause, where as he hath done thee no harme.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
Be not ready to quarrel with a man without a cause, lest he do thee some harm.
English Revised Version
Strive not with a man without cause, if he have done thee no harm.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Stryue thou not ayens a man with out cause, whanne he doith noon yuel to thee.
Update Bible Version
Don't strive with man without cause, If he has done you no harm.
Webster's Bible Translation
Strive not with a man without cause, if he hath done thee no harm.
New King James Version
Do not strive with a man without cause, If he has done you no harm.
New Living Translation
Don't pick a fight without reason, when no one has done you harm.
New Life Bible
Do not fight with a man for no reason, when he has done you no wrong.
New Revised Standard
Do not quarrel with anyone without cause, when no harm has been done to you.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Contend not with a man without cause, if he hath dealt thee no wrong.
Douay-Rheims Bible
Strive not against a man without cause, when he hath done thee no evil.
Revised Standard Version
Do not contend with a man for no reason, when he has done you no harm.
Young's Literal Translation
Strive not with a man without cause, If he have not done thee evil.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
Do not contend with a man without cause, If he has done you no harm.

Contextual Overview

27Never walk away from someone who deserves help; your hand is God's hand for that person. Don't tell your neighbor "Maybe some other time" or "Try me tomorrow" when the money's right there in your pocket. Don't figure ways of taking advantage of your neighbor when he's sitting there trusting and unsuspecting. 30Don't walk around with a chip on your shoulder, always spoiling for a fight. Don't try to be like those who shoulder their way through life. Why be a bully? "Why not?" you say. Because God can't stand twisted souls. It's the straightforward who get his respect. 33 God 's curse blights the house of the wicked, but he blesses the home of the righteous. He gives proud skeptics a cold shoulder, but if you're down on your luck, he's right there to help. Wise living gets rewarded with honor; stupid living gets the booby prize.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Proverbs 17:14, Proverbs 18:6, Proverbs 25:8, Proverbs 25:9, Proverbs 29:22, Matthew 5:39-41, Romans 12:18-21, 1 Corinthians 6:6-8, 2 Timothy 2:24

Reciprocal: 2 Kings 14:10 - why shouldest Ezekiel 38:11 - safely

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Strive not with a man without cause, Either by words, in a wrangling, quarrelsome, and contentious way, for mere trifles; when there is no foundation for it, no just reason given to form a complaint, or pick a quarrel upon; or by deeds, by lawsuits, when there is nothing to proceed upon; or it is so trifling, that it is not worth while to litigate it or contend about: such, who strive either way, are far from following the example of Wisdom or Christ, and from taking his advice, Matthew 12:19;

if he have done thee no harm; no real hurt to thy person, nor injury to thy substance; if he has not abused nor defrauded thee, nor taken any thing from thee by force or fraud, nor withheld from thee what is thy right and due. But otherwise the laws of God and man ought to take place; right may be sought for, and justice should be done.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

A marked change in style. The continuous exhortation is replaced by a series of maxims.

From them to whom it is due - literally, as in the margin. The precept expresses the great Scriptural thought that the so-called possession of wealth is but a stewardship; that the true owners of what we call our own are those to whom, with it, we may do good. Not to relieve them is a breach of trust.

Proverbs 3:28

Procrastination is especially fatal to the giving impulse. The Septuagint adds the caution: “for thou knowest not what the morrow will bring forth.”

Proverbs 3:29

Securely - i. e., “With full trust,” without care or suspicion. Compare Judges 18:7, Judges 18:27.

Proverbs 3:31

A protest against the tendency to worship success, to think the lot of the “man of violence” enviable, and therefore to be chosen.

Proverbs 3:32

The true nature of such success. That which people admire is an abomination to Yahweh. His “secret,” i. e., His close, intimate communion as of “friend with friend,” is with the righteous.

Proverbs 3:33

The thought, like that which appears in Zechariah 5:3-4, and pervades the tragedies of Greek drama, is of a curse, an Ate, dwelling in a house from generation to generation, the source of ever-recurring woes. There is, possibly, a contrast between the “house” or “palace” of the rich oppressor and the lowly shepherd’s hut, the “sheep-cote” 2 Samuel 7:8 ennobled only by its upright inhabitants.

Proverbs 3:34

Surely - Better, If he scorneth the scorners, i. e., Divine scorn of evil is the complement, and, as it were, the condition, of divine bounty to the lowly (compare the marginal reference and the Proverbs 1:26 note).

Proverbs 3:35

The margin conveys the thought that “fools” glory in that which is indeed their shame. Others take the clause as meaning “every fool takes up shame,” i. e., gains nothing but that.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Proverbs 3:30. Strive not with a man — Do not be of a litigious, quarrelsome spirit. Be not under the influence of too nice a sense of honour. If thou must appeal to judicial authority to bring him that wrongs thee to reason, avoid all enmity, and do nothing in a spirit of revenge. But, if he have done thee no harm, why contend with him? May not others in the same way contend with and injure thee!


 
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