Patience and Poverty
A foolish son is his father’s ruin, and a quarrelsome wife is like a constant dripping. Proverbs 19:13 · Berean Standard Bible
A foolish son brings his father to ruin, and a wife who constantly complains or criticizes is as wearing as a leak that never stops—both drain the life out of you.
These are two different household realities. A son's foolishness can cost the family everything. A spouse's constant negativity creates an atmosphere of misery. The proverb acknowledges both as serious domestic challenges.
The wisdom teacher, speaking from what actually happens in families.
This is part of Proverbs' practical advice about choosing a spouse wisely and raising children well. Later verses will contrast this with the blessing of a wise wife and a wise son.
A foolish son brings financial and reputational ruin to his father, while a quarrelsome wife creates constant domestic misery through perpetual conflict.
The parallelism between father-son dysfunction and marital discord suggests these represent the two primary relational crises in household economy and stability. The phrase 'ruin' (meshakhit) implies destruction of livelihood and legacy; the comparison of a quarrelsome wife to 'constant dripping' (deleф tamid) employs the metaphor of erosion—the small, persistent irritant that wears away stone over time. Both situations represent threats to the patriarchal household's integrity and survival in a subsistence economy where family cohesion was economically essential.
The wisdom teacher addressing male heads of household regarding threats to domestic stability.
While reflecting ancient patriarchal household structures, this principle extends to the broader biblical theme of covenant relationship: Israel is sometimes characterized as God's unfaithful spouse, and the prophets employ similar erosional metaphors for the damage caused by persistent infidelity and rebellion.
11A man’s insight gives him patience, and his virtue is to overlook an offense.
12A king’s rage is like the roar of a lion, but his favor is like dew on the grass.
13A foolish son is his father’s ruin, and a quarrelsome wife is like a constant dripping.
14Houses and wealth are inherited from fathers, but a prudent wife is from the LORD.
15Laziness brings on deep sleep, and an idle soul will suffer hunger.
Read all of Proverbs 19 — A person's wisdom yields patience. Better to be poor and walk in integrity than to be rich and crooked.
This page covers one. BibleKey does all 31,102 — tap any verse for its meaning, any word for its Hebrew or Greek root, and keep reading without leaving the chapter.
NIV, NLT, NKJV, KJV and the Berean — plus the Catholic NLT-CE and Douay-Rheims, with the full deuterocanon in the reading order.
Tap any of the 31,102 for what it means, and any word for its Hebrew or Greek root, without leaving the chapter.
Start recording at church and put your phone away. You get the transcript, the key moments, and every verse referenced.
Say what's sitting on your heart and hear it back as a real prayer, in a warm voice. Keep the ones that land.
The whole Bible in a year — five chapters a day, five days a week, weekends off. Built to be finished.
A verse each morning with its meaning, how it lands today, something to sit with, and a prayer to close it.
Not just the famous ones. BibleKey is free on iPhone and iPad.
Download on the App StoreFree on iPhone & iPad