Proverbs 20

Proverbs 20:1

1. a mocker] Rather a scorner, Proverbs 1:22, note. raging] Rather, a brawler, R.V. In each case the thing is personified in its victim. The drunkard in his cups becomes impious towards God and quarrelsome towards his neighbour. is deceived] erreth, R.V., reeleth, R.V. marg.

Proverbs 20:2

2. is as] The terror inspired by a king is like that caused by the roaring of a lion in act to spring upon its prey. See 1 Peter 5:8. soul] i.e. life, as R.V. with “Heb. soul,” in the marg. Comp. Habakkuk 2:10.

Proverbs 20:3

3. cease] For the same sense of the English word, refrain or stand aloof from, R.V., comp. Psalms 37:8; Isaiah 1:16. meddling] R.V.; Rather, quarrelling, R.V. See Proverbs 17:14, note.

Proverbs 20:4

4. cold] Rather, winter, A.V. marg. and R.V. See Genesis 8:22, where the Heb. word here used is rendered “winter,” and another Heb. word is used for “cold.” beg] This rendering, which is retained in R.V. text, gives a forcible picture of the destitution to which the slothful will be reduced: though he beg as a mendicant, men’s hearts, even when enlarged by the plenty of harvest, will have no pity on him. Some, however, take it to mean, when he seeketh in harvest (when others are reaping the fruit of their labour) there shall be nothing, R.V. marg.

Proverbs 20:5

5. will draw it out] as from a well, as the Queen of Sheba did, 1 Kings 10.

Proverbs 20:6

6. goodness] i.e. bounty, A.V. marg., or kindness, R.V. Fair promises are common, but faithful performance of them is rare. Comp. 2 Corinthians 8:11; 2 Corinthians 9:4. The first clause of the verse is otherwise rendered: Many a man will meet one that is kind to him, R.V. marg., but, as the next clause adds, seldom one that he can trust.

Proverbs 20:7

7. walketh] Rather, that walketh, R.V. ὄςἀναστρέφεταιἄμωμοςἐνδικαιοσύνῃ, μακαρίουςτοὺςπαῖδαςαὐτοῦκαταλείψει, LXX.

Proverbs 20:8

8. scattereth] or winnoweth, R.V. marg., as the same Heb. word is rendered (as suggested by the parallelism) in Proverbs 20:26.

Proverbs 20:9

9. Comp. Psalms 19:12; Jeremiah 2:22; Luke 18:9-14.

Proverbs 20:10

10. Divers weights] Lit. a stone and a stone, an ephah and an ephah; different weights or measures to buy and to sell with, or when there is risk of detection, and when fraud is safe. Comp. Deuteronomy 25:13-14, where the explanatory words, “a great and a small,” are added, as they are here by the LXX. (στάθμιονμέγακαὶμικρόν); and see ch. Proverbs 11:1 (note), Proverbs 16:11.

Proverbs 20:11

11. is known] or, maketh himself known; betrays his true character, and gives presage of “his (life’s) work.” Comp. the familiar German proverb, “Was ein Dörnchen werden will spitzt sich bei Zeiten,” Lange.

Proverbs 20:12

12. The hearing ear] or, The ear heareth, and the eye seeth. Οὖςἀκούεικαὶὀφθαλμὸςὁρᾷ, LXX. The proverb is designed to be a seed of thought and to suggest many inferences, such as: How great must the Maker of such organs be (Psalms 139:14; Wis 13:5); how exactly must their Maker take account of their use (Psalms 94:9); how entirely dependent are we upon Him for their employment (Exodus 4:11) or restoration (Isaiah 35:5), whether literally or spiritually.

Proverbs 20:13

13. Comp. Proverbs 6:9-11; Proverbs 19:15.

Proverbs 20:14

14. naught] i.e. an inferior article. Comp. 2 Kings 2:19. By decrying it he gets it cheap, and then goes his way and boasts of his cleverness. Mr Bridges, in his Commentary on Proverbs, quotes here from Augustine the well-known story of him who having given out that he would disclose to every man the secret desire of his heart, exclaimed to the crowd who came together to hear it, Vili vultis emere, et caro vendere, “You all wish to buy cheap, and sell dear” (Aug. de Trin. lib. 13. c. 3).

Proverbs 20:15

15. rubies] The R.V. retains this word, but refers to Job 28:18, where it gives in the margin, or, red coral, or, pearls. See Proverbs 3:15, note.

Proverbs 20:16

16. Take his garment] The Law of Moses recognised and regulated distraint on clothing as security for the repayment of a loan or debt (Exodus 22:26-27; Deuteronomy 24:10-13. Comp. Matthew 5:40). The proverb represents vividly the certainty that the surety will smart for his folly. Treat him at once, it says to the creditor, as though he were the actual debtor; for there is no escape for him. Hold him in pledge (R.V.), as the parallel clause of the verse puts it, for his assuredly, and not the stranger’s, is the liability he has so foolishly incurred. a strange woman] The Heb. text is strangers; though there is another reading, a strange woman, as in Proverbs 27:13, where the proverb recurs. The addition, that is surety, R.V., is not necessary to the sense. We may render, with Maurer, Hold him in pledge for (in place of) the strangers (for whom he has made himself liable).

Proverbs 20:17

17. Bread of deceit] or of falsehood, R.V., i.e. bread (or whatever else that word represents) gotten by dishonest and deceitful methods. with gravel] Comp. Lamentations 3:16.

Proverbs 20:18

18. with good advice] or, by wise guidance, R.V., make war. Comp. Luke 14:31-32.

Proverbs 20:19

19. flattereth with] Rather, openeth wide, R.V.; dilatat labia sua, Vulg.; has his mouth always open as a tattling gossip. Comp. the prohibition of the Law, Leviticus 19:16, and St Paul’s rebuke of “tattlers” and “busybodies,” 1 Timothy 5:13.

Proverbs 20:20

20. obscure darkness] Better, the blackest darkness, R.V. Lit. the pupil (of the eye) of darkness (comp. “in the pupil of night,” Proverbs 7:9, and note): i.e. in the darkest part, as the pupil is of the eye, of darkness. There is a trace of this in the version here of the LXX., αἱδὲκόραιτῶνὀφθαλμῶναὐτοῦὄψονταισκότος. In our present Hebrew Bibles, however, the word is corrected in the text to be read into a word which is not found elsewhere, and the meaning of which is uncertain. Vulg. in mediis tenebris.

Proverbs 20:21

21. hastily] Comp. Proverbs 28:20; Proverbs 28:22.

Proverbs 20:22

22. Comp. Romans 12:17; Romans 12:19.

Proverbs 20:23

23. See Proverbs 20:10, note.

Proverbs 20:24

24. Comp. Proverbs 16:9; Jeremiah 10:23.

Proverbs 20:25

25. who devoureth that which is holy] This rendering is retained in R.V. marg., as is also another, rashly to utter holy words. But it is better to render, rashly to say, It is holy (R.V. text), i.e. consecrated (comp. Corban, Mark 7:11). The sequence is thus preserved: and after vows (of consecration, thus rashly taken) to make enquiry (as to the wisdom or possibility of keeping them). παγὶςἀνδρὶταχύτιτῶνἰδίωνἁγιάσαι, LXX.

Proverbs 20:26

26. scattereth] Rather, winnoweth. λικμήτωρἀσεβῶνβασιλεὺςσοφὸς, LXX. the wheel] sc. of his threshing wain. Comp. Isaiah 28:27. He executes righteous judgement upon them, Psalms 62:4; Romans 13:4.

Proverbs 20:27

27. spirit] Lit. breath (ðíïÞ, LXX.). The word, in this unusual sense, may probably have been chosen to recall Genesis 2:7 : the Lord God … breathed into his nostrils the breath (the same word as here) of life. “The breath of the higher life, above that which he has in common with the lower animals, coming to him direct from God, such a life, with all its powers of insight, consciousness, reflection, is as a lamp which God has lighted, throwing its rays into the darkest recesses of the heart,” Dean Plumptre in Speaker’s Comm. candle] Rather, lamp, A.V. marg. and R.V.

Proverbs 20:30

30. the blueness of a wound] Lit. stripes of (such as to cause) a wound. Render, with R.V., Stripes that wound cleanse away evil: And strokes reach the innermost parts of the belly. The expression, the blueness of a wound, is taken probably from the livor vulneris of the Vulgate, and indicates a blow so severe as to leave a blue, livid wound or weal behind it.