Proverbs 20

¹Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.

Pr 20:1-30. 1. mocker--scorner. Such men are made by wine. strong drink--made by spicing wine (compare Is 5:11, 22); and it may include wine. raging--or boisterous as a drunkard. deceived--literally, “erring,” or reeling.

²The fear of a king is as the roaring of a lion: whoso provoketh him to anger sinneth against his own soul.

2. (Compare Pr 19:12). Men who resist authority injure themselves (Ro 13:2).

³It is an honour for a man to cease from strife: but every fool will be meddling.

3. to cease from strife--or, better, “to dwell from or without strife,” denoting the habit of life. fool ... meddling--(Pr 17:14).

⁴The sluggard will not plow by reason of the cold; therefore shall he beg in harvest, and have nothing.

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

⁵Counsel in the heart of man is like deep water; but a man of understanding will draw it out.

5. Counsel ... water--that is, deeply hidden (Pr 18:4; Psa 13:2). The wise can discern well.

⁶Most men will proclaim every one his own goodness: but a faithful man who can find?

6. Boasters are unreliable. goodness--or, “kind disposition.”

⁷The just man walketh in his integrity: his children are blessed after him.

7. The conduct of good men proclaims their sound principles. God’s covenant and their good example secure blessing to their children (Pr 4:26; Psa 112:1, 2).

⁸A king that sitteth in the throne of judgment scattereth away all evil with his eyes.

8. As in Pr 14:35; 16:10, 15, this is the character of a good king, not of all kings.

⁹Who can say, I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin?

9. The interrogation in the affirmative strengthens the implied negation (compare Job 15:14; Ec 7:20).

¹⁰Divers weights, and divers measures, both of them are alike abomination to the LORD.

10. Various measures, implying that some are wrong (compare Pr 11:1; 16:11).

¹¹Even a child is known by his doings, whether his work be pure, and whether it be right.

11. The conduct of children even is the best test of principle (compare Mt 7:16).

¹²The hearing ear, and the seeing eye, the LORD hath made even both of them.

12. Hence, of course, God will know all you do (Psa 94:9).

¹³Love not sleep, lest thou come to poverty; open thine eyes, and thou shalt be satisfied with bread.

13. Activity and diligence contrasted with sloth (Pr 6:9; 10:11). lest ... poverty--literally, “be deprived of inheritance.”

¹⁴It is naught, it is naught, saith the buyer: but when he is gone his way, then he boasteth.

14. when ... his way--implying that he goes about boasting of his bargains.

¹⁵There is gold, and a multitude of rubies: but the lips of knowledge are a precious jewel.

15. The contrast denotes the greater value of knowledge (compare Pr 3:14-16).

¹⁶Take his garment that is surety for a stranger: and take a pledge of him for a strange woman.

16. Take his garment--implies severe exaction, justified by the surety’s rashness. a strange woman--by some readings “strangers,” but the former here, and in Pr 27:13, is allowable, and strengthens the sense. The debauchee is less reliable than the merely careless.

¹⁷Bread of deceit is sweet to a man; but afterwards his mouth shall be filled with gravel.

17. Bread ... sweet--either as unlawfully (Pr 9:17) or easily obtained. mouth ... gravel--well expresses the pain and grief given at last.

¹⁸Every purpose is established by counsel: and with good advice make war.

18. (Compare Pr 15:22). Be careful and considerate in important plans.

¹⁹He that goeth about as a talebearer revealeth secrets: therefore meddle not with him that flattereth with his lips.

19. Those who love to tell news will hardly keep secrets. flattereth ... lips--(compare Margin; Pr 1:10). meddle ... him--literally, “join,” or “associate with.”

²⁰Whoso curseth his father or his mother, his lamp shall be put out in obscure darkness.

20. his lamp--(Compare Pr 13:9; 24:20).

²¹An inheritance may be gotten hastily at the beginning; but the end thereof shall not be blessed.

21. gotten hastily--contrary to God’s providence (Pr 28:20), implying its unjust or easy attainment; hence the man is punished, or spends freely what he got easily (compare Pr 20:17).

²²Say not thou, I will recompense evil; but wait on the LORD, and he shall save thee.

22. (Compare Psa 27:14; Ro 12:17-19).

²³Divers weights are an abomination unto the LORD; and a false balance is not good.

23. (Compare Pr 20:10; 11:1).

²⁴Man's goings are of the LORD; how can a man then understand his own way?

24. Man’s goings--literally, “Stately steppings of a strong man.” a man--any common man. understand--or, “perceive.”

²⁵It is a snare to the man who devoureth that which is holy, and after vows to make enquiry.

25. devoureth ... holy--or, better, “who rashly speaks promises,” or “devotes what is holy,” consecrating any thing. This suits better the last clause, which expresses a similar view of the results of rashly vowing.

²⁶A wise king scattereth the wicked, and bringeth the wheel over them.

26. (Compare Pr 20:8). bringeth ... over them--The wheel was used for threshing grain. The figure denotes severity (compare Am 1:3).

²⁷The spirit of man is the candle of the LORD, searching all the inward parts of the belly.

27. The spirit ... Lord--Men’s minds are God’s gifts, and thus able to search one another (compare Pr 20:5; Pr 18:8, 17; 1Co 2:11).

²⁸Mercy and truth preserve the king: and his throne is upholden by mercy.

28. (Compare Pr 3:3; 16:6, 12).

²⁹The glory of young men is their strength: and the beauty of old men is the gray head.

29. The glory of young men ... the beauty of old men--Each age has its peculiar excellence (Pr 16:31).

³⁰The blueness of a wound cleanseth away evil: so do stripes the inward parts of the belly.

30. blueness--literally, “joining,” the process of uniting the edges of a wound throws off purulent matter. stripes ... belly--So punishment provides healing of soul (Pr 18:8), by deterring from evil courses.