Proverbs Chapter 27 verse 5 Holy Bible
Better is open rebuke Than love that is hidden.
read chapter 27 in ASV
Better is open protest than love kept secret.
read chapter 27 in BBE
Open rebuke is better than hidden love.
read chapter 27 in DARBY
Open rebuke is better than secret love.
read chapter 27 in KJV
read chapter 27 in WBT
Better is open rebuke Than hidden love.
read chapter 27 in WEB
Better `is' open reproof than hidden love.
read chapter 27 in YLT
Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerse 5. - Open rebuke is better than secret love. Love that is hidden and never discloses itself in acts of self-denial or generosity, especially that which from fear of offending does not rebuke a friend, nor speak the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15), when there is good reason for such openness - such disguised love is worse, more objectionable, less beneficial, than the plain speaking which bravely censures a fault, and dares to correct what is wrong by well-timed blame. To hold back blame, it has been said, is to hold back love. "I love not my friend," wrote Seneca ('Ep.,' 25), "if I do not offend him." Plautus, 'Trinum.,' 1:2, 57 - "Sed tu ex amicis certis mi es certissimus. Si quid scis me fecisse inscite aut improbe,Si id non me accusas, tu ipse objurgandus." Publ. Syr., 'Sent.,' 16, "Amici vitia si feras, facis tua," which Erasmus expounds by adding, "If you take no notice of your friend's faults, they will be imputed to you." Cicero ('De Amicit.,' 24, 25) has some sensible remarks on this subject: "When a man's ears are shut against the truth, so that he cannot hear the truth from a friend, the welfare of such a one is hopeless. Shrewd is the observation of Cato, that some are better served by bitter enemies than by friends who seem to be agreeable; for the former often speak the truth, the latter never.... As therefore both to give and receive advice is the characteristic of true friendship, and that the one should act with freedom, but not harshly, and that the other should accept remonstrance patiently and without resistance, so it should be considered that there is no deadlier bane to friendship than adulation, fawning, and flattery."
Ellicott's Commentary
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(5) Secret love--i.e., that never discloses itself in acts of kindness, not even in "open rebuke" when such is needed.
