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Proverbs 20

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Warnings Against Vice and Strife 1–6

1
Wine is a mocker, strong drink a brawler; And whosoever erreth thereby is not wise. ​
2
The terror of a king is as the roaring of a lion: He that provoketh him to anger sinneth against his own life. ​
3
It is an honor for a man to keep aloof from strife; But every fool will be quarrelling.
4
The sluggard will not plow by reason of the winter; Therefore he shall beg in harvest, and have nothing.
5
Counsel in the heart of man islikedeep water; But a man of understanding will draw it out. ​
6
Most men will proclaim every one his own kindness; But a faithful man who can find? ​

Integrity, Justice, and Kingship 7–8

7
A righteous man that walketh in his integrity, Blessed are his children after him.
8
A king that sitteth on the throne of judgment Scattereth away all evil with his eyes.

Divine Observation and Human Sin 9–12

9
Who can say, I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin? ​
10
Diverse weights, and diverse measures, Both of them alike are an abomination to Jehovah. ​
11
Even a child maketh himself known by his doings, Whether his work be pure, and whether it be right.
12
The hearing ear, and the seeing eye, Jehovah hath made even both of them. ​

Diligence and Honesty in Commerce 13–19

13
Love not sleep, lest thou come to poverty; Open thine eyes, and thou shalt be satisfied with bread.
14
It is bad, it is bad, saith the buyer; But when he is gone his way, then he boasteth.
15
There is gold, and abundance of rubies; But the lips of knowledge are a precious jewel.
16
Take his garment that is surety for a stranger; And hold him in pledge that is surety for foreigners. ​
17
Bread of falsehood is sweet to a man; But afterwards his mouth shall be filled with gravel. ​
18
Every purpose is established by counsel; And by wise guidance make thou war.
19
He that goeth about as a tale-bearer revealeth secrets; Therefore company not with him that openeth wide his lips.

Family Duty and Divine Sovereignty 20–25

20
Whoso curseth his father or his mother, His lamp shall be put out in blackness of darkness. ​
21
An inheritancemay be gotten hastily at the beginning; But the end thereof shall not be blessed.
22
Say not thou, I will recompense evil: Wait for Jehovah, and he will save thee. ​
23
Diverse weights are an abomination to Jehovah; And a false balance is not good.
24
A man’s goings are of Jehovah; How then can man understand his way? ​
25
It is a snare to a man rashly to say, It is holy, And after vows to make inquiry. ​

The King, God's Control, and Discipline 26–30

26
A wise king winnoweth the wicked, And bringeth the threshing-wheel over them.
27
The spirit of man is the lamp of Jehovah, Searching all his innermost parts. ​
28
Kindness and truth preserve the king; And his throne is upholden by kindness.
29
The glory of young men is their strength; And the beauty of old men is the hoary head.
30
Stripes that wound cleanse away evil; And strokesreachthe innermost parts. ​

Bible text: American Standard Version (1901) · Public domain

Study Notes for Proverbs 20

Verse 1

Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging — Luts is to scoff, hamah to roar in tumult: drink is pictured as a scoffer and a brawler. 'Deceived' is shagah, to stray. Priest and prophet 'have erred through strong drink' (Isa 28:7); kings are warned off it (Prov 31:4); the New Testament sets the Spirit against it (Eph 5:18).

Verse 2

the roaring of a lion — Naham is a snarl or roar; 'fear' (eymah) is dread. The same figure stands in 'The king's wrath is as the roaring of a lion' (Prov 19:12). 'Sinneth against his own soul' (nephesh, life) means forfeiting his own life, as Solomon swore of Adonijah (1 Kings 2:23); 'a wise man will pacify it' (Prov 16:14).

Verse 5

deep water — 'Deep' is amoq; 'draw it out' is dalah, to let down a bucket, so the figure is a well whose water is out of reach until someone lowers a vessel. Compare 'The words of a man's mouth are as deep waters' (Prov 18:4). The purpose lies in the man's own spirit (1 Cor 2:11).

Verse 6

proclaim every one his own goodness — 'Goodness' is chesed, kindness, the word usually used of covenant love; many announce it of themselves. 'Faithful' (emun) is the trustworthy, and he is rare: 'the faithful fail from among the children of men' (Ps 12:1). Christ forbids the self-announcing almsgiver: 'do not sound a trumpet before thee' (Matt 6:2).

Verse 9

I have made my heart clean — Two words for cleanness stand together: zakah, to be clear, and taher, to be pure. The question expects no answer: 'there is no man that sinneth not' (1 Kings 8:46); 'there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not' (Eccl 7:20); 'If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves' (1 John 1:8).

Verse 10

Divers weights, and divers measures — The Hebrew repeats each noun, stone and stone, ephah and ephah: two sizes of each. Weights were stones (eben), the ephah a grain measure. The Law forbade it: 'Thou shalt not have in thy bag divers weights, a great and a small' (Deut 25:13). 'Abomination' (toebah) is repeated in v.23 and Prov 11:1.

Verse 12

The hearing ear, and the seeing eye — The LORD 'hath made' (asah) both, so the faculties belong to him. The same argument stands in 'He that planted the ear, shall he not hear? he that formed the eye, shall he not see?' (Ps 94:9), and in his words to Moses, 'Who hath made man's mouth?… have not I the LORD?' (Ex 4:11).

Verse 16

Take his garment — Beged is a garment; arab is to pledge oneself, to stand surety. The cloak was the usual pledge, which the Law required to be returned by sunset (Ex 22:26). The proverb says to hold the garment of one reckless enough to guarantee a stranger's debt: 'He that is surety for a stranger shall smart for it' (Prov 11:15).

Verse 17

Bread of deceit — Sheqer is falsehood, so bread got by lying or fraud; areb is sweet, pleasant. 'Gravel' (chatsats) is grit, and the same word means an arrow. Compare 'Stolen waters are sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant' (Prov 9:17) and 'He hath also broken my teeth with gravel stones' (Lam 3:16).

Verse 20

his lamp shall be put out in obscure darkness — 'Curseth' is qalal, to treat as light or contemptible, the reverse of honouring. Death was the penalty (Ex 21:17), which Christ cites in Matt 15:4. The lamp is the man's life and house (Prov 24:20); 'obscure darkness' is literally the 'pupil' (ishon) of darkness, the deepest night.

Verse 22

wait on the LORD — Qavah is to wait with expectation; 'save' is yasha. The sibling saying is 'Say not, I will do so to him as he hath done to me' (Prov 24:29). Paul gathers it up: 'Recompense to no man evil for evil' (Rom 12:17), and 'Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord' (Rom 12:19, from Deut 32:35).

Verse 24

Man's goings are of the LORD — 'Goings' is mitsad, a step; 'man' is geber, a strong man, who still cannot read his own path. Compare 'A man's heart deviseth his way: but the LORD directeth his steps' (Prov 16:9) and 'the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps' (Jer 10:23).

Verse 25

devoureth that which is holy — Yala is to blurt out or speak rashly. The snare is to cry 'holy' (qodesh, a dedicated thing) in haste and then, 'after vows', to inquire how to escape. The Law fixed the dedicated thing (Lev 27:10); 'neither say thou before the angel, that it was an error' (Eccl 5:6).

Verse 27

the candle of the LORD — The 'spirit' (neshamah) is breath given by God, and it is his lamp, lit by him to search 'all the inward parts of the belly' (literally its chambers, cheder). The man's own spirit knows him from within: 'what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him?' (1 Cor 2:11).

Verse 30

The blueness of a wound — Chabburah is the weal raised by a blow, the word Isaiah uses for 'stripes' (Isa 53:5). 'Cleanseth' (tamruq) is a scouring, a detergent. Blows reach 'the inward parts of the belly', where v.27 says the spirit searches. Chastening is 'for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness' (Heb 12:10).