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Proverbs 20

The TorahRooted Bible (TRB), translated directly from the Hebrew and Greek.

1 Wine is a scoffer, strong drink a brawler, and whoever is led astray by it is not wise. 2 The dread of a king is like the roaring of a young lion; whoever provokes him to anger sins against his own soul. 3 It is an honor for a man to keep away from strife, but every fool breaks out in quarrels. 4 The sluggard does not plow in autumn; he looks for a crop at harvest, and there is nothing. 5 Counsel in a man's heart is like deep waters, but a man of understanding will draw it out. 6 Many a man proclaims his own kindness, but a faithful man, who can find? 7 The righteous man walks in his integrity; blessed are his children after him! 8 A king who sits on the throne of judgment winnows all evil with his eyes. 9 Who can say, "I have made my heart clean; I am pure from my sin"? 10 Differing weights and differing measures, both of them are an abomination to Yahweh. 11 Even a youth makes himself known by his deeds, whether his conduct is pure and upright. 12 The hearing ear and the seeing eye, Yahweh has made both of them. 13 Do not love sleep, lest you come to poverty; open your eyes, and you will be satisfied with bread. 14 "Bad, bad," says the buyer; but when he has gone his way, then he boasts. 15 There is gold and an abundance of jewels, but lips of knowledge are a precious vessel. 16 Take the garment of one who has become surety for a stranger, and hold him in pledge for a foreign woman. 17 Bread gained by falsehood is sweet to a man, but afterward his mouth will be filled with gravel. 18 Plans are established by counsel; by wise counsel wage war. 19 Whoever goes around as a slanderer reveals secrets; therefore do not associate with a babbler. 20 Whoever curses his father or his mother, his lamp will go out in the black of darkness. 21 An inheritance gained hastily at the beginning will not be blessed in the end. 22 Do not say, "I will repay evil"; wait for Yahweh, and He will save you. 23 Differing weights are an abomination to Yahweh, and false scales are not good. 24 A man's steps are from Yahweh; how then can a man understand his way? 25 It is a snare for a man to say rashly, "It is holy!" and to reflect only after making vows. 26 A wise king winnows the wicked and drives the threshing wheel over them. 27 The breath of man is the lamp of Yahweh, searching all the inner rooms of the belly. 28 Lovingkindness and faithfulness preserve the king, and by lovingkindness he upholds his throne. 29 The glory of young men is their strength, and the splendor of old men is gray hair. 30 Blows that wound cleanse away evil, and strokes, the inner rooms of the belly.

Notes

  • 20:1 Wine and strong drink are spoken of as if they were people: wine is a "scoffer," the very word for the man who will not be taught, and strong drink is a "brawler," loud like the woman Folly (9:13). Strong drink (shekhar) was fermented drink such as beer, not distilled liquor. Wine had its place at Israel's feasts (Deuteronomy 14:26), so the warning is against being "led astray" by it, the verb used in 5:19-23 for being captivated (see also 23:29-35).
  • 20:10 Literally "a stone and a stone, an ephah and an ephah": two sets of weights and of grain measures, one for buying and one for selling. Deuteronomy 25:13-14 forbids the same thing in the same words ("differing weights," "differing measures"); see the note at 11:1.
  • 20:16 To become surety for a stranger was folly (6:1-5), and the lender is told to secure himself by taking the man's garment as a pledge. The Torah protected a poor man's cloak, which had to be returned before sunset (Exodus 22:26), but this man is no needy borrower: he has rashly bound himself for others. The Hebrew is written "foreigners" but read "a foreign woman"; the TRB follows the reading, as in 27:13, where the saying is repeated.
  • 20:22 The Torah already forbids revenge: "You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge" (Leviticus 19:18), for Yahweh says, "Vengeance is Mine" (Deuteronomy 32:35). Instead of repaying evil, the wise man waits for Yahweh; the verb qavah means to wait in hope. Paul joins the same thoughts in Romans 12:17-19.
  • 20:27 "Breath" is neshamah, the word for the "breath of life" that Yahweh breathed into the first man (Genesis 2:7). Elihu says the same: "it is a spirit in man, the breath of Shaddai, that gives them understanding" (Job 32:8). Here that God-given breath is pictured as a lamp that searches "the inner rooms of the belly" (as in 18:8), the hidden depths of a person; many readers see in it the conscience. Compare Paul's words in 1 Corinthians 2:11.

Proverbs 19 · Proverbs 21

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