What Does Proverbs 27:5 Mean in the King James?
Open rebuke is better than secret love.
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
The rebuke called “open” is literally uncovered, while the love called “secret” remains concealed.
THE MEANING
This verse speaks to the gap between care that remains hidden and truth that reaches the person who needs to hear it. Open correction makes what needs to be faced visible; concealed affection, however real, cannot do that while it stays concealed. The verse calls the open rebuke better.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that private affection is always enough when truth needs to be shared. Care kept hidden cannot give another person the clarity that open correction can.
THE ROOT
מְגֻלָּה
megullah
GROWS FROM
גלה
g-l-h
To uncover or reveal.
The word translated “open” is literally uncovered or revealed. The verse describes correction brought into view, where what needs to be faced can be seen.
ALSO GROWS
galah: To uncover or reveal.
גָּלָה
The verb makes the image in “open rebuke” concrete: the matter is exposed.
niglah: Revealed, made visible.
נִגְלָה
This related form echoes the verse’s contrast between what is visible and what remains concealed.
מְסֻתָּרֶת
mesutteret
GROWS FROM
סתר
s-t-r
To hide or conceal.
“Secret” comes from a root meaning to conceal. This makes the contrast one of visibility: correction is uncovered, while the love stays hidden from the person it might reach.
ALSO GROWS
seter: A hiding place; concealment.
סֵתֶר
The noun shows the root’s sense of something kept out of view.
nistar: Hidden, concealed.
נִסְתָּר
This related form reinforces that the love in the verse is out of sight.
תּוֹכֵחַת
tokhechah
GROWS FROM
יכח
y-kh-ch
To reprove, correct, or bring a matter to judgment.
The Hebrew root carries the sense of correction and of weighing or proving a matter. Paired with “uncovered,” it presents rebuke as truth brought into view, rather than merely a harsh word.
ALSO GROWS
hokhiach: To reprove or correct.
הוֹכִיחַ
This verb form shares the root behind the verse’s noun for rebuke.
tokhechah: Reproof, correction.
תּוֹכֵחָה
This is the same root-family noun, showing that the verse’s rebuke belongs to the work of correction.
THE PATTERN
Truth brought into the open can serve love more fully than affection or flattery kept hidden.
Let the righteous smite me; it shall be a kindness: and let him reprove me; it shall be an excellent oil, which shall not break my head: for yet my prayer also shall be in their calamities.He that rebuketh a man afterwards shall find more favour than he that flattereth with the tongue.But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:THE THREAD
Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart: thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbour, and not suffer sin upon him.Leviticus uses forms of יכח (yakach), the same root behind תּוֹכֵחָה (tokhechah), “rebuke,” in Proverbs. It places correction beside hatred held in the heart, revealing how concealed feeling and direct truth meet in both verses.
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