Don’t Be Contentious
Better to dwell in a corner of a housetop, than in a house shared with a contentious woman.
This verse tells us that great strife comes to a marriage when a spouse’s approach is characterized by contention. The word translated “contentious” in the New King James Version essentially means a person who is constantly brawling, hurling verbal insults and starting disputes.
The characteristic of being “contentious” should not describe anyone—male or female (1 Timothy 3:3). This verse specifically focuses on the effect of this negative character trait when displayed by a wife, but it applies equally to husbands.
For a description of the characteristics that God wants women to display, see Titus 2:3-5:
“The older women likewise, that they be reverent in behavior, not slanderers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things—that they admonish the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be blasphemed.”
To learn more about God’s expectations for women, read our article “The Role of Women.”
Tomorrow on the Daily Bible Verse Blog:
