Proverbs 25 · a question people ask
"Don’t be hasty in bringing charges to court" (25:8). Is the saying against taking a neighbor to court?
What the verse warns against is haste: "Don’t be hasty in bringing charges to court. What will you do in the end when your neighbor shames you?" (25:8). The next verse says what to do instead: "Debate your case with your neighbor, and don’t betray the confidence of another" (25:9), "lest one who hears it put you to shame, and your bad reputation never depart" (25:10). In the WEB both reasons speak of shame (25:8, 25:10), though the Hebrew verbs differ. Proverbs has another saying about a case: "He who pleads his cause first seems right— until another comes and questions him" (Proverbs 18:17). In Hebrew its cause and another are the words of 25:9's case and neighbor. The chapter doesn't say whether a case should ever go further, and these notes don't apply it to any dispute anyone has today.
The verses
“Don’t be hasty in bringing charges to court. What will you do in the end when your neighbor shames you? Debate your case with your neighbor, and don’t betray the confidence of another, lest one who hears it put you to shame, and your bad reputation never depart.”
“He who pleads his cause first seems right— until another comes and questions him.”