What Does Proverbs 25:15 Mean in the King James?
By long forbearing is a prince persuaded, and a soft tongue breaketh the bone.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
Patience can persuade power, while softness carries enough force to break bone.
THE MEANING
Your patience can persuade even someone with power, and a soft tongue can break through what seems hardest. Gentleness here carries real force; it changes resistance through time and tenderness.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie is that tenderness has no force and authority moves only under pressure. This verse shows patience and gentle speech moving what resists.
THE ROOT
רַכָּה
rakkāh
GROWS FROM
רכך
r-k-k
To be soft or tender.
The same root describes a tender heart as well as the soft tongue here. The verse gives that tenderness bone-breaking force, making softness an active power rather than a lack of strength.
ALSO GROWS
rakh levav: Tender of heart; fainthearted.
רַךְ לֵבָב
The root can describe an inward tenderness, showing that softness is a quality of the person as well as the voice.
rakhakh: To become soft or tender.
רָכַךְ
This verb form makes softness a change in condition, fitting the verse’s picture of resistance yielding.
יְפֻתֶּה
yefutteh
GROWS FROM
פתה
p-t-h
To entice, allure, or persuade.
“persuaded” in this verse is yefutteh. The verb also carries the sense of enticing or alluring, adding a coaxing shade to persuasion. Patience can draw agreement out over time.
ALSO GROWS
pātāh: To entice or persuade.
פָּתָה
This verb form shares the root’s sense of drawing someone toward agreement.
peti: A simple or easily influenced person.
פֶּתִי
This related form shows the root’s connection with being open to persuasion.
בְּאֹרֶךְ אַפַּיִם
bəʾorekh ʾappayim
GROWS FROM
ארך
ʾ-r-k
To be long or to lengthen.
“long forbearing” in this verse is bəʾorekh ʾappayim. The phrase literally pictures lengthened nostrils: anger takes longer to flare. Its image makes forbearance a lengthened interval before heat rises, matching the sense of being slow to flare.
ALSO GROWS
ʾorekh yamim: Length of days.
אֹרֶךְ יָמִים
The same root stretches time itself, linking patience with duration.
ʾārakh: To lengthen or become long.
אָרַךְ
This verb form shows the root’s basic movement: something is extended rather than cut short.
THE PATTERN
Patient restraint and gentle speech can quiet anger and move resistance.
A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger.If the spirit of the ruler rise up against thee, leave not thy place; for yielding pacifieth great offences.Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath:THE THREAD
And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth,Exodus uses the same Hebrew phrase, אֹרֶךְ אַפַּיִם, describing the LORD as slow to flare. That shared root connects patience with power that can persuade without force.
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