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Sunday, January 12th, 2025
Jesus' Baptism / First Sunday after Epiphany
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Read the Bible

New Century Version

Proverbs 17:12

It is better to meet a bear robbed of her cubs than to meet a fool doing foolish things.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Bear;   Company;   Thompson Chain Reference - Animals;   Bears;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Bear, the;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Bear;   Charles Buck Theological Dictionary - Pardon;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Bear;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Fool, Foolishness, and Folly;   Proverbs, Book of;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Bear;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Bear,;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Bear;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Bear;   Fool;   Kitto Biblical Cyclopedia - Bear;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Didascalia;  

Parallel Translations

English Standard Version
Let a man meet a she-bear robbed of her cubs rather than a fool in his folly.
Geneva Bible (1587)
It is better for a man to meete a beare robbed of her whelpes, then a foole in his follie.
Christian Standard Bible®
Better for a person to meet a bear robbed of her cubsthan a fool in his foolishness.
Hebrew Names Version
Let a bear robbed of her cubs meet a man, Rather than a fool in his folly.
Easy-to-Read Version
It is better to meet a bear robbed of her cubs than a fool who is busy doing foolish things.
Amplified Bible
Let a man meet a [ferocious] bear robbed of her cubs Rather than the [angry, narcissistic] fool in his folly.
American Standard Version
Let a bear robbed of her whelps meet a man, Rather than a fool in his folly.
Contemporary English Version
A bear robbed of her cubs is far less dangerous than a stubborn fool.
Complete Jewish Bible
Rather meet a bear robbed of its cubs than encounter a fool in his folly.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
Let a bear robbed of her whelps meet a man, rather than a fool in his folly.
King James Version (1611)
Let a beare robbed of her whelps meet a man, rather then a foole in his folly.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
Care may befall a man of understanding; but fools will meditate evils.
English Revised Version
Let a bear robbed of her whelps meet a man, rather than a fool in his folly.
Berean Standard Bible
It is better to meet a bear robbed of her cubs than a fool in his folly.
Lexham English Bible
May a man meet a she-bear robbed of offspring and not a fool in his folly.
Literal Translation
Let a bear bereaved of her cubs meet a man, rather than a fool in his foolishness.
New English Translation
It is better for a person to meet a mother bear being robbed of her cubs, than to encounter a fool in his folly.
New King James Version
Let a man meet a bear robbed of her cubs, Rather than a fool in his folly.
New Living Translation
It is safer to meet a bear robbed of her cubs than to confront a fool caught in foolishness.
New Life Bible
A man meeting a bear robbed of her little ones is better than meeting a fool in his foolish way.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Let a bereaved bear encounter man, rather than a dullard, with his folly!
Douay-Rheims Bible
It is better to meet a bear robbed of her whelps, than a fool trusting in his own folly.
George Lamsa Translation
Meditation and reverence are suitable for a wise man; but a fool meditates in his folly.
Good News Translation
It is better to meet a mother bear robbed of her cubs than to meet some fool busy with a stupid project.
New American Standard Bible
Let a person meet a bear robbed of her cubs, Rather than a fool in his foolishness.
King James Version
Let a bear robbed of her whelps meet a man, rather than a fool in his folly.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
It were better to meete a shee beare robbed of her whelpes, then a foole [trusting] in his foolishnesse.
New Revised Standard
Better to meet a she-bear robbed of its cubs than to confront a fool immersed in folly.
Darby Translation
Let a bear robbed of her whelps meet a man rather than a fool in his folly.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
It spedith more to meete a femal bere, whanne the whelpis ben rauyschid, than a fool tristynge to hym silf in his foli.
Young's Literal Translation
The meeting of a bereaved bear by a man, And -- not a fool in his folly.
World English Bible
Let a bear robbed of her cubs meet a man, Rather than a fool in his folly.
Revised Standard Version
Let a man meet a she-bear robbed of her cubs, rather than a fool in his folly.
Update Bible Version
Let a bear robbed of her whelps meet a man, Rather than a fool in his folly.
Webster's Bible Translation
Let a bear robbed of her whelps meet a man, rather than a fool in his folly.
Bible in Basic English
It is better to come face to face with a bear whose young ones have been taken away than with a foolish man acting foolishly.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
It were better to come agaynst a she Bere robbed of hir whelpes, then agaynst a foole in his foolishnes.
THE MESSAGE
Better to meet a grizzly robbed of her cubs than a fool hellbent on folly.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
Let a man meet a bear robbed of her cubs, Rather than a fool in his folly.
Legacy Standard Bible
Let a man meet a bear robbed of her cubs,Rather than a fool in his folly.

Contextual Overview

12 It is better to meet a bear robbed of her cubs than to meet a fool doing foolish things.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

a bear: Proverbs 28:15, 2 Samuel 17:8, 2 Kings 2:24, Hosea 13:8

rather: Proverbs 27:3, Matthew 2:16

Reciprocal: Genesis 19:9 - pressed Ecclesiastes 7:25 - know Daniel 3:13 - in his Daniel 7:5 - another Revelation 13:2 - and his feet

Cross-References

Genesis 17:22
After God finished talking with Abraham, God rose and left him.
Genesis 17:23
Then Abraham gathered Ishmael, all the males born in his camp, and the slaves he had bought. So that day Abraham circumcised every man and boy in his camp as God had told him to do.
Genesis 21:4
He circumcised Isaac when he was eight days old as God had commanded.
Leviticus 12:3
On the eighth day the boy must be circumcised.
Luke 1:59
When the baby was eight days old, they came to circumcise him. They wanted to name him Zechariah because this was his father's name,
Luke 2:21
When the baby was eight days old, he was circumcised and was named Jesus, the name given by the angel before the baby began to grow inside Mary.
Acts 7:8
God made an agreement with Abraham, the sign of which was circumcision. And so when Abraham had his son Isaac, Abraham circumcised him when he was eight days old. Isaac also circumcised his son Jacob, and Jacob did the same for his sons, the twelve ancestors of our people.
Romans 2:28
They can do this because a person is not a true Jew if he is only a Jew in his physical body; true circumcision is not only on the outside of the body.
Philippians 3:5
I was circumcised eight days after my birth. I am from the people of Israel and the tribe of Benjamin. I am a Hebrew, and my parents were Hebrews. I had a strict view of the law, which is why I became a Pharisee.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Let a bear robbed of her whelps meet a man,.... A bear is a very fierce and furious creature, especially a she bear; and she is still more so when robbed of her whelps, which she has just whelped, and been at great pains to lick into shape and form, by which her fondness to them is increased; and therefore, being stripped of them, is full of rage; and ranging about in quest of them, falls furiously upon the first she meets with. Jerom n observes, that those who have written of the nature of beasts say, that, among all wild beasts, there is none more fierce than a she bear, when she has lost her whelps, or wants food. And yet, as terrible and as dangerous as it is, it is safer and more eligible of the two, to meet an enraged bear in those circumstances,

rather than a fool in his folly; in the height of his folly, in a paroxysm or fit of that; in the heat of his lusts, and the pursuit of them, in which there is no stopping him, or turning him from them; especially in the heat of passion and anger, which exceeds that of a bear, and is not so easily avoided. Jarchi applies it to such fools as seduce persons to idolatry, whom to meet is very dangerous: such are the followers of the man of sin, who have no mercy on the souls of men they deceive, and whose damnation they are the cause of; and who are implacably cruel to those who will not join with them in their idolatrous worship; the beast of Rome, his feet are as the feet of a bear, Revelation 13:2; and one had better meet a bear than him and his followers.

n Comment, in Hos. xiii. 8. So Aristot. Hist. Animal. l. 6. c. 18.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The large brown bear of Syria, in her rage at the loss of her whelps, was to the Israelites the strongest type of brute ferocity. Compare 2 Samuel 17:8; 2 Kings 2:24.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Proverbs 17:12. Let a bear robbed of her whelps — At which times such animals are peculiarly fierce. 2 Samuel 17:8.


 
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