Proverbs 17:12
It is better to meet a bear robbed of her whelps, than a fool trusting in his own folly.
Douay-Rheims Bible (Challoner, 1752)
In The King James Version
Let a bear robbed of her whelps meet a man, rather than a fool in his folly.
In Context
11An evil man always seeketh quarrels: but a cruel angel shall be sent against him.
13He that rendereth evil for good, evil shall not depart from his house.
Cross References
2 Kings 2:24And looking back, he saw them, and cursed them in the name of the Lord: and there came forth two bears out of the forest, and tore of them, two and forty boys. Cursed them... This curse, which was followed by so visible a judgment of God, was not the effect of passion, or of a desire of revenging himself; but of zeal for religion, which was insulted by these boys, in the person of the prophet; and of a divine inspiration: God punishing in this manner the inhabitants of Bethel, (the chief seat of the calf worship,) who had trained up their children in a prejudice against the true religion and its ministers.
Proverbs 28:15As a roaring lion, and a hungry bear, so is a wicked prince over the poor people.
Matthew 2:16Then Herod perceiving that he was deluded by the wise men, was exceeding angry: and sending killed all the menchildren that were in Bethlehem, and in all the borders thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently inquired of the wise men.
Matthew Henry on Proverbs 17:12
11 An evil man seeketh only rebellion: therefore a cruel messenger shall be sent against him. Here is the sin and punishment of an evil man. 1. His sin. He is an evil man indeed that seeks all occasions to rebel against God, and the government God has set over him, and to contradict and quarrel with those about him. Quærit jurgia—He picks quarrels; so some. There are some that are actuated by a spirit of opposition, that will contradict for contradiction-sake, that will go on frowardly in their wicked ways in… Read the whole commentary →