Proverbs 10:12 Explained

"Hatred stirreth up strifes: but love covereth all sins." — Proverbs 10:12 (KJV)

Quoted twice in the New Testament, and both quotations turn on what 'covereth' does and does not mean.

Read it in context: The Book of Proverbs. Also gathered under verses about love.

Proverbs 10:12 in context

What does Proverbs 10:12 mean?

'Stirreth up' is a verb for raking something into flame — hatred does not merely coexist with strife, it goes looking for it. 'Covereth' is the opposite motion: not denying a wrong or pretending it did not happen, but declining to spread it. Peter quotes this about charity among believers, James about turning a sinner back. Neither uses it to mean concealment from the person who needs to know.

What is the context of Proverbs 10:12?

It sits in the long run of two-line contrasts that make up the centre of Proverbs. The book's method is to set two ways of living beside each other and let the reader see which produces what.

How do I pray Proverbs 10:12?

Ask what you have been raking. Then take one true and unflattering thing you know about someone and simply stop repeating it — that is the whole practice the verse describes. Covering is an action, not a feeling, and it is measurable by what you did not say today.

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