Favor · the best way to learn the Bible
Proverbs 15 Bible study: A gentle answer
The chapter's last line gathers the book's first: "The fear of the LORD teaches wisdom" (15:33), where teaches is musar, the instruction of 1:7. And 15:9 sets the LORD's love not on the righteous but on "him who follows after righteousness" (15:9), someone pursuing it.
Favor is a Bible study app that explains every chapter as you read: the words behind the words, what most readers miss, and how it all leads to Jesus.
First week free, then $10 a month per person
“A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.”
Try it · Did you catch it?
“Proverbs 15:9 says the LORD loves him who follows after righteousness.”
Is that in Proverbs 15, or not? Make your call.
What's really going on
An answer, a word, a tongue
The chapter opens with a saying about answering: "A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger" (15:1) (tap answer, gentle, wrath). Here is what almost everyone misses: the chapter keeps coming back to it. Wrath and anger in 15:1 are the same Hebrew words as in "A wrathful man stirs up contention, but one who is slow to anger appeases strife" (15:18) (tap slow). Answer and word in 15:1 are the same Hebrew words as reply and word in "Joy comes to a man with the reply of his mouth. How good is a word at the right time!" (15:23). And "The heart of the righteous weighs answers, but the mouth of the wicked gushes out evil" (15:28) (tap weighs): answers there is the verb that Strong's gives as the root of 15:1's answer, and gushes out is the verb of "the mouths of fools gush out folly" (15:2). Between them come the tongue and the lips: "The tongue of the wise commends knowledge" (15:2), "A gentle tongue is a tree of life" (15:4), and "The lips of the wise spread knowledge" (15:7).
Where it leads to Jesus
Hunger for righteousness
Proverbs 15:9leads toMatthew 5:6
Proverbs 15 says whom the LORD loves: "The way of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD, but he loves him who follows after righteousness" (Proverbs 15:9). In Hebrew follows after is radaf, which Brown-Driver-Briggs gives as "pursue, chase, persecute". Jesus said, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled" (Matthew 5:6). Jesus doesn't cite Proverbs, so setting the two together is a reading. It rests on a shared subject, not only on the word righteousness: in both sayings the person is named by what he reaches for, righteousness, and in both that person meets with favor: "he loves him" (Proverbs 15:9), and "Blessed", "they shall be filled" (Matthew 5:6). One reading hears Jesus saying of those who long for righteousness what Proverbs 15:9 says of those who pursue it. Another hears the beatitude as Jesus's own word to those who heard him on the mountain (Matthew 5:1-2), with no look back to this saying. Christians also read righteousness in Matthew 5:6 in more than one way, and this line doesn't settle how.
Honest questions
Questions people ask about Proverbs 15
- "A gentle answer turns away wrath" (15:1). Does a gentle answer always calm someone's anger?
- "In the house of the righteous is much treasure" (15:6), but "Better is little, with the fear of the LORD" (15:16). Which is it?
- "The LORD is far from the wicked" (15:29). Does the LORD not hear the prayers of the wicked?
That was a taste
The rest of Proverbs 15 is waiting in Favor
- Before the LORD
- Correction, and the book's first line
- Said again elsewhere
- Greedy for gain, twice
- Better is… at the table
- 16 questions as you read
- 14 more Hebrew words
- A short check at the end
- Your notes, saved as you go
Favor reads the Bible in order, so you'll reach Proverbs 15 with everything before it in view. First week free, then $10 a month per person.
The Hebrew word behind it
מַעֲנֶהma'anehsay ma-a-NEH
Brown-Driver-Briggs: "answer, response". Strong's: "a reply (favorable or contradictory)", and it gives the word as "from 6030", the verb of "The heart of the righteous weighs answers" (15:28). "A gentle answer turns away wrath" (15:1). It comes again in "Joy comes to a man with the reply of his mouth" (15:23), where the WEB gives it as reply. The Hebrew Bible has it eight times, five of them in Proverbs. The next is "the answer of the tongue is from the LORD" (Proverbs 16:1).
For your group
Proverbs 15 Bible study questions
- 1"A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger" (15:1). Think of a time a gentle answer, yours or someone else's, changed the way a conversation went. What made it possible?
- 2"The heart of the righteous weighs answers" (15:28). What helps you weigh your words before you answer?
- 3"Better is a dinner of herbs, where love is, than a fattened calf with hatred" (15:17). What do you think makes a table a place where love is?
Leading a group? In Favor, everyone reads Proverbs 15 during the week and answers these questions privately. Answers stay sealed until you meet, then appear together, and you can print the week's sheet.
Start a Bible studyThe best way to learn the Bible
Favor opens up every chapter as you read.
Favor is a Bible study app for your phone or computer. It takes you through the Bible one chapter at a time, a few minutes a day, and shows you what's really there: the words behind the words, the moments most people miss, and how the whole story fits together. For you. For everyone.
Every chapter explains itself
As you read, short notes open up what's really going on, the details most readers walk past, and the honest questions people ask.
The Hebrew and Greek behind it
Tap a highlighted word to see the original, how to say it, and what it means, checked against the original-language texts.
Every page leads to Jesus
Watch promises made in Genesis kept in Jesus. Each line lights up on your map as you read.
Better together
Read on your own, or start a Bible study with friends, family or your church. Answers stay sealed until you meet, then appear together.
- 1
Start your free week
Sign up in a minute with your email.
- 2
Read a few minutes a day
Each chapter opens itself up as you go. Tap what you're curious about.
- 3
Bring your people, if you like
Send one link. Everyone reads the same chapter, then meets to talk.
First week free, then $10 a month per person
Questions
What is Favor?
Favor is a Bible study app that explains every chapter as you read: the Hebrew and Greek behind the words, the details most readers miss, and how each part of the Bible leads to Jesus. Read on your own, or start a Bible study with friends, family or your church.
How much does it cost?
Your first week is free. After that it's $10 a month per person, the same for everyone, including groups and churches. There are no tiers and nothing extra to unlock.
Can I read Proverbs 15 straight away?
Favor takes the Bible as one story, in order, so you'll reach Proverbs 15 with everything that leads up to it in view. Start from Genesis, or meet Jesus first in the Gospels. You can read the text of any chapter in Favor's Look up whenever you like.
Do I need a group?
No. Many people read on their own. If you'd like to read with others, start a Bible study and share one link. Everyone's answers stay private until you meet.
I've never really read the Bible. Is this for me?
Yes. Favor starts where you are and explains as it goes. The questions along the way aren't marked right or wrong: you answer, then see what the text shows.
Which Bible does Favor use?
The World English Bible, a modern, readable translation in the public domain. God's name appears as "the LORD", as in most English Bibles.
Is Favor tied to a church?
No. Favor is non-denominational. Where Christians read a passage differently, it shows the main views side by side and doesn't pick one.
Start with Proverbs 15
The best way to learn the Bible. For you. For everyone.
There's a seat for you at the table.
Start your free weekFirst week free, then $10 a month per person · Log in
Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Hebrew and Greek words are checked against the original-language texts and public-domain lexicons. What we believe · Favor home