Proverbs 10:12

Hatred stirreth up strifes: but love covereth all sins.
– Proverbs 10:12

The word for stirreth up means literally to awaken as out of sleep. Strifes are contentions, quarrels, or discords of all kinds. The stirring and spreading of contentions comes from hatred. Other proverbs expose the stirring of strife as coming from wrath, ungodliness, pride, and anger (Proverbs 15:18; 16:27; 28:25; 29:22). A hateful heart captures all those ideas.

The contrast comes in the form of action motivated by love. The word for covereth means to conceal or hide. It can be used to speak of covering the body with clothing. Covering obviously doesn’t mean sweeping sin under the rug and acting as though it doesn’t exist (Proverbs 28:13). We understand what is meant by observing the parallelism in the proverb. It is opposite of stirring up contentions and strife. It is the wisdom that defers anger and passes over transgressions (Proverbs 19:11). Often, there isn’t a problem between people until we make one and that is what hatred does. Love covers shame, appeases strife, and ceases from it (Proverbs 12:16; 15:18; 20:3).

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