Proverbs

Proverbs 20

30 verses · Wisdom · Old Testament

1Wine is a mocker and beer is a brawler. Whoever is led astray by them is not wise. 2The terror of a king is like the roaring of a lion. He who provokes him to anger forfeits his own life. 3It is an honor for a man to keep aloof from strife, but every fool will be quarreling. 4The sluggard will not plow by reason of the winter; therefore he shall beg in harvest, and have nothing. 5Counsel in the heart of man is like deep water, but a man of understanding will draw it out. 6Many men claim to be men of unfailing love, but who can find a faithful man? 7A righteous man walks in integrity. Blessed are his children after him. 8A king who sits on the throne of judgment scatters away all evil with his eyes. 9Who can say, “I have made my heart pure. I am clean and without sin?” 10Differing weights and differing measures, both of them alike are an abomination to Yahweh. 11Even a child makes himself known by his doings, whether his work is pure, and whether it is right. 12The hearing ear, and the seeing eye, Yahweh has made even both of them. 13Don’t love sleep, lest you come to poverty. Open your eyes, and you shall be satisfied with bread. 14“It’s no good, it’s no good,” says the buyer; but when he is gone his way, then he boasts. 15There is gold and abundance of rubies, but the lips of knowledge are a rare jewel. 16Take the garment of one who puts up collateral for a stranger; and hold him in pledge for a wayward woman. 17Fraudulent food is sweet to a man, but afterwards his mouth is filled with gravel. 18Plans are established by advice; by wise guidance you wage war! 19He who goes about as a tale-bearer reveals secrets; therefore don’t keep company with him who opens wide his lips. 20Whoever curses his father or his mother, his lamp shall be put out in blackness of darkness. 21An inheritance quickly gained at the beginning, won’t be blessed in the end. 22Don’t say, “I will pay back evil.” Wait for Yahweh, and he will save you. 23Yahweh detests differing weights, and dishonest scales are not pleasing. 24A man’s steps are from Yahweh; how then can man understand his way? 25It is a snare to a man to make a rash dedication, then later to consider his vows. 26A wise king winnows out the wicked, and drives the threshing wheel over them. 27The spirit of man is Yahweh’s lamp, searching all his innermost parts. 28Love and faithfulness keep the king safe. His throne is sustained by love. 29The glory of young men is their strength. The splendor of old men is their gray hair. 30Wounding blows cleanse away evil, and beatings purge the innermost parts.

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4 commentators · 118 notes on this chapter

Matthew HenryEnglish Puritan / Nonconformist · 1708–171429

Writes as a pastor rather than a critic. Expect devotional and practical application over historical or linguistic analysis, read through a Reformed covenantal frame — and expect the Old Testament to be read forward toward Christ throughout.

Why this voice is here: The most widely read English commentary for three centuries. Included as a baseline: where Henry and a modern voice diverge, the divergence itself is usually the interesting part.

v. 2

See here, 1. How formidable kings are, and what a terror they strike upon those they are angry with. Their fear, with which (especially when they are absolute and their will is a law) they keep their subjects in awe, is as the roaring of a lion, which is very…

v. 3

This is designed to rectify men's mistakes concerning strife. 1. Men think it is their wisdom to engage in quarrels; whereas it is the greatest folly that can be. He thinks himself a wise man that is quick in resenting affronts, that stands upon every nicety…

v. 4

See here the evil of slothfulness and the love of ease. 1. It keeps men from the most necessary business, from ploughing and sowing when the season is: The sluggard has ground to occupy, and has ability for it; he can plough, but he will not; some excuse or…

John GillParticular Baptist / High Calvinist · 1746–176330

The most exhaustive and the most doctrinally committed here. Expect high — even supralapsarian — Calvinism applied consistently, and unusually heavy use of rabbinic and Talmudic sources for Jewish context. Where a passage bears on election or the will, Gill will read it in one direction, and knowing that in advance is the point.

Why this voice is here: The strongest Calvinist reading available in the public domain, and the best on Jewish background. Read alongside Clarke, not instead of him — between them you get both sides of the argument.

v. 1

Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging,.... Wine deceives a man; it not only overcomes him before he is aware, but it promises him a pleasure which it does not give; but, on the contrary, excessive drinking gives him pain, and so mocks him; yea, it exposes…

v. 2

The fear of a king is as the roaring of a lion,.... The wrath and displeasure of a king, which causes fear; see Proverbs 19:12; kings should be terrors to evil works and workers, though not to good ones, Romans 13:3. This is true of the King of kings, who one…

v. 3

It is an honour for a man to cease from strife,.... As Abraham did, Genesis 13:7; when engaged in a quarrel with his neighbour, or in a lawsuit, or in a religious controversy, especially when he finds he is in the wrong; and indeed, if he is in the right…

Keil & DelitzschGerman Lutheran, conservative-critical · 1861–187530

The technical one, and Old Testament only. Expect Hebrew grammar, textual argument, and direct engagement with nineteenth-century critical scholarship — closer to a scholarly apparatus than a devotional read. Where a modern critic claims a text is late or composite, this is where the conservative counter-argument was made.

Why this voice is here: Old Testament only, and heavy going — but the place to look when someone asserts a passage cannot mean what it appears to.

v. 1

This proverb warns against the debauchery with which free-thinking is intimately associated. Wine is a mocker, mead boisterous; And no one who is overtaken thereby is wise. The article stands with יין. Ewald maintains that in 10:1-22:6 the article occurs only…

v. 2

2 A roaring as of a lion is the terror of the king; And he that provoketh him forfeiteth his life. Line first is a variation of Pro 19:12. The terror which a king spreads around (מלך, gen. subjecti., as, e.g., at Job 9:34 and generally) is like the growling…

v. 3

3 It is an honour to a man to remain far from strife; But every fool showeth his teeth. Or better: whoever is a fool quisquis amens, for the emphasis does not lie on this, that every fool, i.e., every single one of this sort, contends to the uttermost; but…

Jamieson, Fausset & BrownScottish Presbyterian / Reformed · 187129

The concise option. Three authors split the canon, so the voice shifts between sections. Expect brief, sober, conservative notes that resolve difficulties rather than dwelling on them — useful for orientation, thinner than Gill or Clarke where a passage is genuinely contested.

Why this voice is here: The quickest way to see what the mainstream Reformed reading of a passage is. Start here, then go to Gill or Clarke when it matters.

v. 2

(Compare Pro 19:12). Men who resist authority injure themselves (Rom 13:2).

v. 3

to cease from strife--or, better, "to dwell from or without strife," denoting the habit of life. fool . . . meddling-- (Pro 17:14).

v. 4

shall . . . beg--literally, "ask" (in this sense, Psa 109:10).

World English Bible — Public domain