Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges · Proverbs Kapitel 20

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.

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.

3. cease] For the same sense of the English word, refrain or stand aloof from, R.V., comp. Psalm 37:8; Isaiah 1:16.

meddling] R.V.; Rather, quarrelling, R.V. See Proverbs 17:14, note.

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.

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

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.

7. walketh] Rather, that walketh, R.V.

ὄς ἀναστρέφεται ἄμωμος ἐν δικαιοσύνῃ, μακαρίους τοὺς παῖδας αὐτοῦ καταλείψει, LXX.

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

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

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. (στάθμιον μέγα καὶ μικρόν); and see ch. Proverbs 11:1 (note), Proverbs 16:11.

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.

12. The hearing ear] or, The ear heareth, and the eye seeth. Οὖς ἀκούει καὶ ὀφθαλμὸς ὁρᾷ, 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 (Psalm 139:14; Wis 13:5); how exactly must their Maker take account of their use (Psalm 94:9); how entirely dependent are we upon Him for their employment (Exodus 4:11) or restoration (Isaiah 35:5), whether literally or spiritually.

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

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).

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.

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).

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.

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

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.

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., αἱ δὲ κόραι τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν αὐτοῦ ὄψονται σκότος. 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.

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

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

23. See Proverbs 20:10, note.

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

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). παγὶς ἀνδρὶ ταχύ τι τῶν ἰδίων ἁγιάσαι, LXX.

26. scattereth] Rather, winnoweth. λικμήτωρ ἀσεβῶν βασιλεὺς σοφὸς, LXX.

the wheel] sc. of his threshing wain. Comp. Isaiah 28:27. He executes righteous judgement upon them, Psalm 62:4; Romans 13:4.

27. spirit] Lit. breath (πνοή, 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.

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.