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Proverbs 27:3

in Proverbs 27

A stone is heavy and sand is a burden, but aggravation from a fool outweighs them both.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

A stone is heavy, and the sand weighty; But a fool’s vexation is heavier than they both.

KJV

A stone is heavy, and the sand weighty; but a fool’s wrath is heavier than them both.

This verse in Proverbs 27

Commentary

5 notes on this verse
A stone is heavy, and the sand weighty,.... As was the stone which was at the well's mouth, where Laban's flocks were watered, which could not be rolled away till all the shepherds were gathered together, Gen 29:2; and like the burdensome stone Jerusalem is compared to Zec 12:3; and as that at the sepulchre of Christ, rolled away by the angel, Mat 28:

This site's exposition

A stone is heavy

on Proverbs 27:3-6

Verse 3 sets "aggravation from a fool" beside stone and sand and finds it heavier than both. Wrath and anger are named, but jealousy is left unanswered: "who can withstand jealousy?" Verses 5 and 6 turn to speech, since "Better an open rebuke than love that is concealed."

The record, by era

The Medieval Church1 voice

A commentator

Bede

Commentary on Proverbs · Written before 735.

proposed

The stone is heavy, etc. It is indeed quite grievous for anyone to be weighed down by even a single capital crime, as if by the weight of a stone, or to be burdened by countless lighter sins, like pebbles or sand; but the anger …

The Nineteenth Century2 voices

Compare Ecclus. 22:15; a like comparison between the heaviest material burdens and the more intolerable load of unreasoning passion.

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

proposed

heavy--The literal sense of "heavy," applied to material subjects, illustrates its figurative, "grievous," applied to moral. a fool's wrath--is unreasonable and excessive.

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase

The words behind it

8 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • כֹּֽבֶד־[the] heaviness of

    koed-H3514 →

  • אֶ֭בֶןa stone

    ʾevenH68 →273 times

  • וְנֵ֣טֶלand [the] weight of

    venetelH5192 →

  • הַח֑וֹל<the> sand

    hacholH2344 →

  • וְכַ֥עַסand [the] provocation of

    vekhaasH3708 →25 times

  • אֱ֝וִ֗ילa fool

    ʾevilH191 →26 times

  • כָּבֵ֥ד[is] heavy

    kavedH3515 →

  • מִשְּׁנֵיהֶֽם׃more than both of them

    misheneihemH8147 →768 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    1 John 3:12

    Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did Cain slay him? Because his own deeds were evil, while those of his brother were righteous.

    it leads to

    • Hebrews 11:4

      By faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain did. By faith he was commended as righteous when God gave approval to his gifts. And by faith he still speaks, even though he…

    • Genesis 4:4–15

      while Abel brought the best portions of the firstborn of his flock. And the LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering,

    • Proverbs 29:27

      An unjust man is detestable to the righteous, and one whose way is upright is detestable to the wicked.

    • Jude 1:11

      Woe to them! They have traveled the path of Cain; they have rushed headlong into the error of Balaam; they have perished in Korah’s rebellion.

    • Genesis 4:25

      And Adam again had relations with his wife, and she gave birth to a son and named him Seth, saying, “God has granted me another seed in place of Abel, since Cain killed him.”

  • Through

    Daniel 3:19

    At this, Nebuchadnezzar was filled with rage, and the expression on his face changed toward Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. He gave orders to heat the furnace seven times hotter than usual,

    it leads to

    • Daniel 3:13

      Then Nebuchadnezzar, furious with rage, summoned Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. So these men were brought before the king,

    • Leviticus 26:24

      then I will act with hostility toward you, and I will strike you sevenfold for your sins.

  • Through

    Proverbs 17:12

    It is better to meet a bear robbed of her cubs than a fool in his folly.

    it leads to

    • 2 Samuel 17:8

      He continued, “You know your father and his men. They are mighty men, and as fierce as a wild bear robbed of her cubs. Moreover, your father is a man of war who will…

Where this verse is studied

About Proverbs

The Judgment of Solomon, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
The Judgment of Solomon, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.

This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Bede, Commentary on Proverbs; Charles Bridges, An Exposition of the Book of Proverbs; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament.