Proverbs 27:4 (DRB)

Passage

Anger hath no mercy: nor fury, when it breaketh forth: and who can bear the violence of one provoked?

Nearby Context

Proverbs 27:2 Let another praise thee, and not thy own mouth: a stranger, and not thy own lips.

Proverbs 27:3 A stone is heavy, and sand weighty: but the anger of a fool is heavier than them both.

Proverbs 27:4 Anger hath no mercy: nor fury, when it breaketh forth: and who can bear the violence of one provoked?

Proverbs 27:5 Open rebuke is better than hidden love.

Proverbs 27:6 Better are the wounds of a friend, than the deceitful kisses of an enemy.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "mercy", "anger", "hath", "fury", "breaketh", "forth", "bear", and "violence". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "mercy" and "anger", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 3's "A stone is heavy and sand weighty..." into verse 5's "Open rebuke is better than hidden love...", so "mercy" and "anger" belong inside that flow. In Proverbs context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "mercy" and "anger" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.