Proverbs 21:19

Modern

Better to live in the desert than with a contentious and ill-tempered wife.

Traditional

It is better to dwell in the wilderness, than with a contentious and an angry woman.

Literal

Better to dwell in a land of wilderness than with a woman of quarrels and provocation.

Latin

Melius est habitare in terra deserta quam cum muliere rixosa et iracunda.

Hebrew

English

Better to live in the desert than with a contentious and ill-tempered wife.

Better to live in the desert: Compare Proverbs 21:9; 25:24.

Proverbs 21:9
Better to live on a corner of the roof than to share a house with a quarrelsome wife.
Psalm 55:6–7
I said, “Oh, that I had wings like a dove! I would fly away and find rest.
Psalm 120:5–6
Woe to me that I dwell in Meshech, that I live among the tents of Kedar!
Jeremiah 9:2
If only I had a traveler’s lodge in the wilderness, I would abandon my people and depart from them, for they are all adulterers, a crowd of faithless people.