Proverbs 20:3
3 It is an honor for a person ▼
▼tn Heb “man.”
to cease ▼▼tn Heb “cessation” (שֶׁבֶת, shevet); NAB “to shun strife”; NRSV “refrain from strife.”
▼▼sn One cannot avoid conflict altogether, but the proverb is instructing that at the first sign of conflict the honorable thing to do is to find a way to end it.
from strife, but every fool quarrels. ▼
▼tn Heb “breaks out.” The Hitpael of the verb גָּלַע (galaʿ, “to expose; to lay bare”) means “to break out; to disclose oneself,” and so the idea of flaring up in a quarrel is clear. But there are also cognate connections to the idea of “showing the teeth; snarling” and so quarreling viciously.
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