The meaning of the first clause is obtained in the King James Version by the insertion of the words in italics, and it seems on the whole to be the best. The Septuagint and Vulgate give an entirely different rendering, based, apparently, upon a different text.
Related Commentaries of Proverbs 18:19
Proverbs 18:19
19 A brother offended is harder to be won than a strong city: and their contentions are like the bars of a castle.