Proverbs 15:18
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18 Those who are hot-tempered stir up strife,
but those who are slow to anger calm contention.(A)
Proverbs 26:21
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21 As charcoal is to hot embers and wood to fire,
so is a quarrelsome person for kindling strife.(A)
Proverbs 15:1
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15 A soft answer turns away wrath,
but a harsh word stirs up anger.(A)
Matthew 5:9
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9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.(A)
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Proverbs 29:22
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22 One given to anger stirs up strife,
and the hothead causes much transgression.(A)
Proverbs 14:29
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29 Whoever is slow to anger has great understanding,
but one who has a hasty temper exalts folly.(A)
Ecclesiastes 10:4
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4 If the anger of the ruler rises against you, do not leave your post,
for calmness will undo great offenses.(A)
James 1:19-20
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Hearing and Doing the Word
19 You must understand this, my beloved brothers and sisters: let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger,(A) 20 for human anger does not produce God’s righteousness.[a]
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- 1.20 Or justice
Proverbs 16:28
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28 A perverse person spreads strife,
and a whisperer separates close friends.(A)
Proverbs 10:12
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12 Hatred stirs up strife,
but love covers all offenses.(A)
Proverbs 28:25
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25 The greedy person stirs up strife,
but whoever trusts in the Lord will be enriched.(A)
James 3:14-16
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14 But if you have bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not be arrogant and lie about the truth. 15 This is not wisdom that comes down from above but is earthly, unspiritual, devilish.(A) 16 For where there is envy and selfish ambition, there will also be disorder and wickedness of every kind.(B)
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Genesis 13:8-9
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8 Then Abram said to Lot, “Let there be no strife between you and me and between your herders and my herders, for we are kindred.(A) 9 Is not the whole land before you? Separate yourself from me. If you take the left hand, then I will go to the right, or if you take the right hand, then I will go to the left.”
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Acts 6:1-5
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Seven Chosen to Serve
6 Now during those days, when the disciples were increasing in number, the Hellenists complained against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution of food.(A) 2 And the twelve called together the whole community of the disciples and said, “It is not right that we should neglect the word of God in order to wait on tables.[a] 3 Therefore, brothers and sisters, select from among yourselves seven men of good standing, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may appoint to this task,(B) 4 while we, for our part, will devote ourselves to prayer and to serving the word.” 5 What they said pleased the whole community, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, together with Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch.(C)
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- 6.2 Or keep accounts
Proverbs 25:15
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15 With patience a ruler may be persuaded,
and a soft tongue can break bones.(A)
2 Samuel 19:43-20:1
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43 But the people of Israel answered the people of Judah, “We have ten shares in the king, and in David also we have more than you. Why then did you despise us? Were we not the first to speak of bringing back our king?” But the words of the people of Judah were fiercer than the words of the people of Israel.(A)
The Rebellion of Sheba
20 Now a scoundrel named Sheba son of Bichri, a Benjaminite, happened to be there. He sounded the trumpet and cried out,
“We have no portion in David,
no share in the son of Jesse!
Everyone to your tents, O Israel!”(B)
1 Samuel 25:24-44
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24 She fell at his feet and said, “Upon me alone, my lord, be the guilt; please let your servant speak in your ears and hear the words of your servant.(A) 25 My lord, do not take seriously this ill-natured fellow, Nabal, for as his name is, so is he; Nabal[a] is his name, and folly is with him, but I, your servant, did not see the young men of my lord, whom you sent.(B)
26 “Now then, my lord, as the Lord lives and as you yourself live, since the Lord has restrained you from bloodguilt and from taking vengeance with your own hand, now let your enemies and those who seek to do evil to my lord be like Nabal.(C) 27 And now let this present that your servant has brought to my lord be given to the young men who follow my lord. 28 Please forgive the trespass of your servant, for the Lord will certainly make my lord a sure house, because my lord is fighting the battles of the Lord, and evil shall not be found in you so long as you live.(D) 29 If anyone should rise up to pursue you and to seek your life, the life of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of the living under the care of the Lord your God, but the lives of your enemies he shall sling out as from the hollow of a sling. 30 When the Lord has done to my lord according to all the good that he has spoken concerning you and has appointed you prince over Israel, 31 my lord shall have no cause of grief or pangs of conscience for having shed blood without cause or for having saved himself. And when the Lord has dealt well with my lord, then remember your servant.”
32 David said to Abigail, “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who sent you to meet me today!(E) 33 Blessed be your good sense, and blessed be you, who kept me today from bloodguilt and from avenging myself by my own hand! 34 For as surely as the Lord the God of Israel lives, who has restrained me from hurting you, unless you had hurried and come to meet me, truly by morning there would not have been left to Nabal so much as one male.” 35 Then David received from her hand what she had brought him; he said to her, “Go up to your house in peace; see, I have heeded your voice, and I have granted your petition.”(F)
36 Abigail came to Nabal; he was holding a feast in his house like the feast of a king. Nabal’s heart was merry within him, for he was very drunk, so she told him nothing at all until the morning light.(G) 37 In the morning, when the wine had gone out of Nabal, his wife told him these things, and his heart died within him; he became like a stone. 38 About ten days later the Lord struck Nabal, and he died.
39 When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, “Blessed be the Lord, who has judged the case of Nabal’s insult to me and has kept back his servant from evil; the Lord has returned the evildoing of Nabal upon his own head.” Then David sent word to Abigail to make her his wife.(H) 40 When David’s servants came to Abigail at Carmel, they said to her, “David has sent us to you to take you to him as his wife.” 41 She rose and bowed down, with her face to the ground, and said, “Your servant is a slave to wash the feet of the servants of my lord.”(I) 42 Abigail got up hurriedly and rode away on a donkey; her five maids attended her. She went after the messengers of David and became his wife.(J)
43 David also married Ahinoam of Jezreel; both of them became his wives.(K) 44 Saul had given his daughter Michal, David’s wife, to Palti son of Laish, who was from Gallim.(L)
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- 25.25 That is, fool
Judges 8:1-3
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Gideon’s Triumph and Vengeance
8 Then the Ephraimites said to him, “What have you done to us, not to call us when you went to fight against the Midianites?” And they upbraided him violently.(A) 2 So he said to them, “What have I done now in comparison with you? Is not the gleaning of the grapes of Ephraim better than the vintage of Abiezer? 3 God has given into your hands the captains of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb; what have I been able to do in comparison with you?” When he said this, their anger against him subsided.(B)
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