Proverbs 20: God sees what is deep inside | Bible study
What is inside a person is hidden deep down, like water in a well. But the things we do, the way we buy and sell, and the words we say all show it. God sees it all.
Proverbs 20:1
Wine and strong drink make people rude and ready to fight. Anyone who lets drink fool them is not wise.
Wine is a mocker and beer a loudmouth;
The drinks are spoken of as two characters, and they are named after what they turn the drinker into: a person who sneers at everything and a person who shouts and picks fights.
no one who staggers because of them becomes wise.
This is the result. The verb means to stray or reel, so it covers both the unsteady walk and the life that wanders off course. Wisdom and being led by drink cannot grow in the same person.
יין · yayin · wine
The ordinary word for wine made from grapes. Proverbs does not forbid it but warns against being mastered by it (23:29-35).
לץ · lets · scoffer
The same word as the scoffer of 1:22 who sneers at correction. Wine itself is called a lets because it makes one.
שכר · shekar · beer, strong drink
Drink made from grain or fruit other than grapes. The root means to be drunk.
המה · hamah · roar, be noisy
To growl, roar or be in an uproar. The same word describes the noisy streets in 1:21 and the loud woman of 7:11.
שגה · shagah · stray, stagger
To wander off the path or to reel. Hebrew uses one verb for staggering and for going astray, and the proverb means both.
חכם · chakam · be wise
The verb from the same root as chokmah. Skill at living is what the drinker forfeits.
Proverbs 20:2
An angry king is as scary as a roaring lion. If you make him angry, you could lose your life.
The dread a king inspires is like a young lion's growl;
A lion's growl is a warning that comes just before the attack. A king's displeasure is the same kind of signal: when you hear it you are already in danger.
whoever makes him furious sins against his own life.
This draws the conclusion. Provoking someone who holds the power of life and death is not courage. The person harms himself.
אימה · eymah · dread
The fear that a powerful presence produces in others.
מלך · melek · king
The first of four king sayings in the chapter. In Israel the king was also the highest judge, with power over life and death.
נהם · naham · growl
The low growl of a lion over its prey. Proverbs 19:12 uses the same picture for a king's anger.
כפיר · kephir · young lion
A lion in its full young strength, old enough to hunt.
חטא · chata · miss, sin against
The ordinary verb for sinning, whose root sense is to miss. He wrongs his own life and so loses it.
נפש · nephesh · life, self
The whole living self. What he sins against is himself.
Proverbs 20:3
It is a fine thing to stay out of a fight. Any silly person can start an argument.
It is to a man's honor to stay out of a dispute,
People assume honor is won by standing your ground and winning. The proverb says the honor belongs to the one who does not get into the fight, or who drops it.
but every fool bursts into one.
This is the contrast. Starting a quarrel takes no strength or skill, which is why any fool can do it. The self-control needed to hold back is the rare thing.
כבוד · kavod · weight, honor
From a root meaning heavy. Honor is the weight a person carries in the eyes of others.
ריב · riv · dispute, lawsuit
A quarrel, often one that ends up in court.
אויל · evil · stubborn fool
The fool of 1:7 who has decided not to be taught.
גלע · gala · break out
To burst out. The verb is found only in Proverbs (17:14, 18:1 and here) and each time describes a quarrel breaking loose.
The word behind 'avoiding' can come from the verb to sit, giving 'to sit still away from strife', or from the verb to cease, giving 'to stop a quarrel'. Either way the honor goes to the one who is not fighting.
Proverbs 20:4
The lazy person won't dig his field at planting time. So when the crops should be ready, he looks for food and finds nothing.
When the cold season comes the lazy man does not plow,
In Israel plowing and sowing are done in the wet, cold months after the first rains soften the ground. The lazy man lets that window pass. The season itself, cold and muddy, is his excuse.
so at harvest he goes looking and finds nothing.
This is the result months later. He looks for a crop in the field he never plowed, and there is none. The proverb is about any work whose reward comes long after the uncomfortable part.
עצל · atsel · sluggard
The sluggard, a stock character in Proverbs (6:6-11, 26:13-16). His problem is never ability, only unwillingness to start.
חרש · charash · plow
To cut furrows in the soil. Nothing can be sown until this is done.
חרף · choreph · autumn and winter
The cold rainy half of the year, the opposite of summer in Genesis 8:22.
שאל · sha'al · ask, look for
The ordinary verb to ask. He asks for a harvest, either from his own field or from his neighbors.
קציר · qatsir · reaping time
The grain harvest in spring and early summer.
The farming year began with the early rains in October and November. Ground baked hard by the summer could only be plowed once those rains fell, and it had to be done in cold wet weather. A farmer who waited for pleasant conditions missed the sowing altogether.
The Hebrew is 'from the winter', which can mean after the autumn season begins or because of the cold. Older versions take it as his excuse: he will not plow because it is cold.
Proverbs 20:5
What a person is really thinking is like water at the bottom of a deep well. Someone wise knows how to draw it up.
What a person intends lies in his heart like deep water,
The picture is a deep well. A person's real purposes and thoughts are far down, out of sight, and they do not come up by themselves.
but someone with insight will draw it up.
The partner line supplies the bucket. A discerning person gets at what is down there, in another person or in himself, by patient questions and careful listening.
עצה · etsah · counsel, purpose
Counsel, or a purpose someone has formed. Here it is what a person really thinks and intends.
לב · lev · heart, mind
In Hebrew the heart is where a person thinks and decides, not only where he feels.
מים עמקים · mayim amuqqim · deep waters
The same phrase describes a person's words in 18:4. Deep water is valuable and hard to reach.
תבונה · tevunah · insight
From bin, to tell apart. The skill of seeing what is really going on.
דלה · dalah · draw water
The verb for hauling water up from a well, used of Moses drawing water in Exodus 2:16 and 19.
Proverbs 20:6
Lots of people say, I am a loyal friend. But a friend you can really count on is hard to find.
Plenty of people announce how loyal they are,
Claims of loyalty are common and cost nothing. Each person advertises his own kindness.
but a person you can actually rely on, who can find one?
This is the contrast between saying and being. The question expects the answer 'hardly anyone'. Loyalty is proved over time, not announced.
קרא · qara · call out
To call aloud, to announce publicly.
חסד · chesed · loyal love
Faithful kindness shown inside a relationship, especially when it costs something. The same word holds up the king's throne in verse 28.
אמונים · emunim · faithfulness
From the root aman, to be firm, which also gives amen and emet. A person of emunim is one who holds steady.
מצא · matsa · find
The same question is asked about a capable wife in 31:10. It marks something rare and precious.
Proverbs 20:7
A good person lives an honest life. How happy his children will be after him!
A righteous person lives his daily life with integrity;
This answers the question of verse 6. The reliable person is the one whose whole way of living is of one piece, the same in private as in public.
how well off his children are after him!
This is the result. A parent's integrity outlasts him. His children inherit his good name, his example, and the blessing God attaches to such a life.
צדיק · tsaddiq · one in the right
Someone who lives by God's standard and deals rightly with others.
הלך · halak · walk about
The form here means to walk back and forth, to go about one's life. It describes habit, not a single act.
תם · tom · wholeness
Completeness. A person with tom is undivided, with no hidden second self.
אשרי · ashrei · how fortunate
An exclamation: 'how happy is'. It opens the book of Psalms (Psalm 1:1).
בן · ben · son, child
The plural covers children and descendants in general.
Proverbs 20:8
When a king sits down to judge fairly, he looks closely and sorts out everything bad.
A king seated on the judgment seat
The scene is a court. The king sits as judge to hear cases, which was one of his main duties.
sifts out every evil with his eyes.
A good judge looks carefully and can tell guilt from innocence, the way a farmer separates grain from chaff. Under his gaze evil cannot stay mixed in with the good.
מלך · melek · king
Here the king as judge, the ideal that Solomon prayed to live up to (1 Kings 3:9).
כסא · kisse · seat, throne
A seat of honor and authority. The same throne is said to rest on loyalty in verse 28.
דין · din · judgment, legal case
A court term: the hearing and deciding of cases.
זרה · zarah · winnow, scatter
To toss threshed grain into the wind so the chaff blows away. The same verb returns in verse 26.
רע · ra · bad, harmful
The broad word for what is bad or does harm.
עין · ayin · eye
His close examination of people and evidence is the winnowing tool.
After threshing, the mixed heap of grain, straw and husks was thrown into the air with a fork on a windy day. The heavy grain fell straight down and the light chaff was carried off. It is the Bible's standard picture for separating the worthless from the good.
Proverbs 20:9
Who can say, I have made my heart clean and I have never done wrong? Nobody can.
Who can say, I have kept my heart clean,
Right after the king who sifts evil comes the question of who could pass a perfect inspection. The expected answer is no one.
I am pure and free of my sin?
The second line presses the same point. No one can declare himself clean by his own effort. The proverb shuts out self-righteousness and leaves a person needing God to cleanse him.
זכה · zakah · be clean, clear
To be clear or pure. The related adjective zak, pure, appears in verse 11.
לב · lev · heart, mind
The inner person, where motives are formed. It is harder to keep clean than the hands.
טהר · taher · be clean
The word for ritual and moral cleanness, used in David's prayer to be cleansed from sin in Psalm 51:2.
חטאת · chatta't · sin
From chata, to miss the mark.
Proverbs 20:10
Some sellers cheat by keeping two sets of weights and measures, one fair and one not. God hates both.
One weight and another weight, one measure and another measure,
A cheating trader keeps two sets: a heavy stone and large basket for buying, a light stone and small basket for selling. The repeated words imitate the double set.
the LORD detests them both alike.
This gives the verdict. Rigged trade is not a small matter of business practice. God personally hates it, using the strongest word of disgust Hebrew has.
אבן ואבן · even va'even · a stone and a stone
Literally 'stone and stone'. Weights were stones, and two different stones for the same amount meant fraud. The phrase comes from Deuteronomy 25:13.
איפה ואיפה · ephah ve'ephah · an ephah and an ephah
The ephah was the standard dry measure for grain, a little over twenty litres. Two sizes of it meant two prices.
תועבה · to'evah · detestable thing
Something that disgusts. Elsewhere it is used of idolatry, so cheating in the market is put in the same class.
יהוה · YHWH · God's covenant name
The God of Israel takes an interest in how goods are weighed. See 16:11, where honest scales are said to be his.
There were no coins or factory-made weights. Silver was weighed against stones kept in a pouch, and grain was measured by the basket. A buyer had no way to check the seller's stones, so honest trade depended entirely on the merchant.
Proverbs 20:11
Even a child shows what he is like by the things he does. You can see whether he is good and honest.
Even a child shows what he is by what he does,
You do not have to wait for adulthood to see character. A child's actions already reveal it. If that is true of a child, it is all the more true of an adult.
whether his behavior is pure and upright.
This says what the actions reveal: whether the conduct is clean and straight. Character is read from deeds, not from words or from the claims of verse 6.
מעלל · ma'alal · deed, practice
A person's habitual doings, the pattern of what he does.
נער · na'ar · young person
A child or youth, the same word as 1:4.
נכר · nakar · make oneself known
To be recognised. In other places this form of the verb means to disguise oneself, as Joseph did in Genesis 42:7, so a few readers take it as 'a child may pretend'.
פעל · po'al · work, doing
What a person does. A second word for deeds, so the verse says the same thing twice.
זך · zak · clean, clear
Clear and unmixed, used of pure olive oil. From the same root as 'cleansed' in verse 9.
ישר · yashar · straight
Straight, level, with nothing crooked in it.
Proverbs 20:12
Ears that hear and eyes that see: God made them both.
An ear that hears and an eye that sees,
The two organs by which a person learns anything: listening and observing.
the LORD made the two of them.
Three things follow. Your ability to learn is a gift to be used. You answer to the Maker for what you do with ears and eyes. And the one who made them certainly hears and sees himself (Psalm 94:9).
שמע · shama · hear and heed
Hearing that takes in and obeys. The key verb of the whole book.
אזן · ozen · ear
In Proverbs the ear is the organ of teachability.
ראה · ra'ah · see
To see, and so to perceive and understand.
עין · ayin · eye
The same word as the king's sifting eyes in verse 8.
יהוה · YHWH · God's covenant name
Named as Maker. The verb asah, to make, is used of God's work in creation.
Proverbs 20:13
Don't love sleeping, or you will end up poor. Open your eyes and get up, and you will have plenty to eat.
Do not love sleep, or you will lose what you have;
Sleep is not the problem. Loving it is. The person who prefers bed to work ends up stripped of his property.
keep your eyes open and you will have plenty of bread.
This is the opposite choice with the opposite result. The eyes just made by the LORD in verse 12 are for being awake and alert, and that is what puts food on the table.
אהב · ahav · love
To set your affection on something. What you love decides how you spend your days.
שנה · shenah · sleep
The same word in the sluggard's speech of 6:10: 'a little sleep, a little slumber'.
ירש · yarash · be dispossessed
The verb means to take possession. In the passive form used here it means to be stripped of what you own.
פקח · paqach · open the eyes
A verb used almost only of opening eyes. It means to be awake and watchful.
שבע · saba · have enough
To be full, to have all you need.
לחם · lechem · bread
Bread, and so food in general.
Proverbs 20:14
This is no good, no good, says the buyer. Then he walks away and brags about the great deal he got.
Bad, bad! says the buyer,
A scene from the market. To get the price down, the buyer runs down the goods: this is poor quality, it is not worth that.
then he walks off and brags about it.
Once out of earshot he boasts about the bargain, which shows he never believed what he said. The proverb simply shows the scene and lets the reader see the lie in it. It also warns sellers not to believe everything said in a negotiation.
רע · ra · bad, poor quality
The same word translated evil in verses 8 and 22. Here it means worthless goods.
קנה · qanah · acquire, buy
The one acquiring. The same verb is used for getting wisdom in 4:5 and 4:7.
אזל · azal · go away
To go off, to be gone.
הלל · halal · praise oneself
The verb to praise, as in hallelujah. In this form it means to praise oneself.
Prices in an ancient market were not fixed. Every sale was a haggle, and running down the goods was the buyer's normal opening move.
Proverbs 20:15
There is gold, and there are heaps of jewels. But wise words are worth even more.
There is gold, and there are corals in plenty,
The first line grants that costly things exist and are even abundant for those who can pay.
but lips that speak knowledge are the truly precious object.
This is the comparison. Someone who speaks with real knowledge is rarer and worth more than gold or gems. The line treats such speech as a piece of jewelry, the finest one.
זהב · zahav · gold
The standard of wealth, which wisdom is said to outrank in 3:14 and 8:19.
פנינים · peninim · corals, precious stones
A costly red gem, usually thought to be coral, though pearls and rubies have also been suggested. Wisdom and the capable wife are both priced above them (3:15, 31:10).
שפה · saphah · lip, speech
Lips stand for what a person says.
דעת · da'at · knowledge
Knowledge that comes from experience and from knowing God.
כלי יקר · keli yeqar · costly vessel, ornament
Keli is any made article: a vessel, tool or jewel. Yeqar means rare and valuable.
Proverbs 20:16
If someone promises to pay what a stranger owes, don't just trust his word. Keep his coat until he pays you.
Take a man's cloak when he has guaranteed a stranger's debt;
Someone who promises to cover the debt of a person he hardly knows is a bad risk. If you lend to him, take security first, because he is likely to end up unable to pay.
hold it as a pledge when he has done so for foreigners.
The second line repeats the instruction. The point is not to be harsh. It is that a person who makes reckless commitments should not be trusted on his word alone.
בגד · beged · garment, cloak
The outer cloak, the usual item taken as security for a loan (Exodus 22:26).
ערב · arav · stand surety
To pledge yourself for another person's debt. Proverbs warns against it in 6:1-5 and 11:15.
זר · zar · outsider
Someone outside your own circle, whose reliability you cannot know.
נכרי · nokri · foreigner
Someone unknown, from outside the community.
חבל · chaval · take in pledge
To take an article as security for a debt.
A surety promised to pay if the borrower failed. If he could not, his own goods, and in the worst case his freedom, were taken. The law allowed a lender to hold a poor man's cloak as a pledge but required it to be returned by nightfall, since he slept in it (Exodus 22:26-27).
The written Hebrew text has 'foreigners'. The traditional reading note in the margin has 'a foreign woman', which is how the nearly identical saying in 27:13 reads. Versions differ according to which they follow.
Proverbs 20:17
Food you get by lying tastes sweet at first. Later it is like a mouth full of little stones.
Food gained by fraud tastes sweet to a man,
The proverb admits that dishonest gain is enjoyable at first. Getting away with it has its own pleasure.
but afterward his mouth is full of gravel.
This is the contrast of first taste and aftertaste. What seemed like bread turns out to be grit that breaks the teeth and cannot be swallowed. The gain cannot actually be enjoyed or kept.
לחם · lechem · bread
Food, and here anything a person gains to live on.
שקר · sheqer · falsehood, fraud
Deception. 'Bread of falsehood' is food obtained by cheating.
ערב · arev · pleasant, sweet
Written with the same three letters as 'becomes guarantor' in verse 16. The shared spelling is probably why the two sayings stand together.
פה · peh · mouth
The mouth that enjoyed the taste is the part that suffers.
חצץ · chatsats · grit, small stones
Small sharp stones. Lamentations 3:16 uses the same word for teeth broken on gravel.
Proverbs 20:18
Ask for advice when you make plans. Never go to war without wise people to guide you.
Plans are made firm by taking advice,
A plan thought up alone is untested. Running it past others exposes the weak points and makes it stand.
so wage war only with skilled direction.
This applies the principle to the most serious case. The higher the stakes, the less a person should act on his own judgment alone.
מחשבה · machashavah · thought, plan
From chashav, to think or reckon. What a person works out in his mind.
עצה · etsah · counsel, advice
The same word as 'plan' in verse 5. There it lay deep in one heart; here it is brought out and shared.
כון · kun · be firm, established
To stand firm. The Hebrew says the plans 'are established', that is, they hold up.
מלחמה · milchamah · battle, war
War, the costliest undertaking a king could begin.
תחבלות · tachbulot · steering
From the word for a ship's ropes, as in 1:5. The skill of steering. Proverbs 24:6 says the same thing about war.
Proverbs 20:19
A person who spreads stories about others will give away your secrets. So stay away from anyone who talks too much.
A person who goes around carrying tales gives away confidences,
A gossip cannot keep anything. Whatever is told to him in private will be passed on.
so do not get involved with someone who talks too freely.
This is the practical conclusion. The person who tells you other people's secrets will tell yours to others. Keep your distance and tell him nothing.
רכיל · rakil · tale-bearer
Someone who goes about peddling talk. Leviticus 19:16 forbids it, and Proverbs 11:13 has the same first line.
גלה · galah · uncover
To uncover what was covered.
סוד · sod · confidential talk
A close circle of friends, and what is said inside it. It is something entrusted.
ערב · arav · mix with
To mingle or get involved with. The third word in four verses written with the letters ayin, resh and bet (see verses 16 and 17).
פתה · patah · be open, loose
The Hebrew describes him by his lips: one who is open, or foolish, with them. The verb is the root behind peti, the gullible person of 1:4.
Proverbs 20:20
If someone says hateful things about his dad or mum, his life will go out like a lamp in the dark.
Whoever curses his father or his mother,
To curse here is to treat as worthless, to speak of parents with contempt. It is the direct opposite of the command to honor them.
his lamp will be put out in the blackest darkness.
This is the consequence. A burning lamp meant a living household. His goes out, and it goes out at the darkest moment, when light is needed most. He ends without life, family or future.
קלל · qalal · treat as light, curse
The root means to be light. It is the opposite of the word honor in the fifth commandment, which means to treat as heavy.
נר · ner · lamp
A small clay oil lamp. A lamp going out is a picture of death and of a family line ending (13:9, 24:20).
דעך · da'ak · be extinguished
Used of a flame or wick dying.
חשך · choshek · darkness
Darkness, often a picture of disaster and death.
The law treated cursing a parent as a capital offence (Exodus 21:17, Leviticus 20:9). A household kept a lamp burning through the night, so a dark house was an abandoned or dead one.
'Time of darkness' is literally 'the pupil of darkness', the black centre of the eye. The same word is used for the dead of night in 7:9. It means the very darkest darkness.
Proverbs 20:21
If you grab your family's riches too soon, they will not do you good in the end.
An inheritance grabbed in haste at the start
This is property a person gets before the proper time or by pushing for it, like the younger son in Jesus' story who demanded his share early (Luke 15:12).
will not turn out blessed at the end.
The verse sets beginning against end. Wealth that arrives too fast, before a person has the character to handle it, does not last or do him good. It fits naturally after verse 20, since the quickest way to an inheritance is to wrong one's parents.
נחלה · nachalah · inherited property
The family land and goods passed from father to children.
בהל · bahal · hurry, be hasty
To be hasty or in a rush. Proverbs 28:22 uses the same verb of a man rushing after wealth.
אחרית · acharit · outcome, final end
How a thing turns out. Proverbs keeps asking the reader to judge things by their acharit, not their start.
ברך · barak · bless
To be given God's favor so that a thing prospers. A different word from the 'blessed' of verse 7.
The written Hebrew text has a rare word that may mean 'gained by greed'. The traditional reading note has 'hastened', which most versions follow.
Proverbs 20:22
Don't say, I will get them back for what they did to me. Wait for God, and He will help you.
Do not say, I will pay back the wrong;
This forbids even the resolve to take revenge. The wrong done to you was real, but settling the account is not your job.
wait for the LORD and he will rescue you.
This gives the alternative. Hand the matter to God and wait with expectation. The promise is not that he will crush your enemy but that he will deliver you, which is what you actually need.
שלם · shalam · pay back in full
From the root of shalom. To make an account complete, here by paying back harm for harm.
רע · ra · harm, wrong
The harm someone has done to you.
קוה · qavah · wait with hope
To wait with tense expectation. Isaiah 40:31 uses the same verb of those who wait for the LORD and renew their strength.
יהוה · YHWH · God's covenant name
Deuteronomy 32:35 says repayment belongs to him. Paul draws on this teaching in Romans 12:17-19.
ישע · yasha · rescue, deliver
To deliver from trouble. The root of the names Joshua and Jesus.
Proverbs 20:23
God hates it when sellers use unfair weights. Scales that cheat are not good.
The LORD detests two different weights,
This repeats verse 10 almost word for word. The repetition itself shows how seriously the matter is taken.
and rigged scales are no good at all.
The second line adds the balance to the stones. 'Not good' is deliberate understatement and means thoroughly bad.
אבן ואבן · even va'even · a stone and a stone
The same phrase as verse 10.
תועבה · to'evah · detestable thing
The same strong word as verse 10.
יהוה · YHWH · God's covenant name
Again it is the LORD himself who is offended, not just the customer.
מרמה · mirmah · deceit
Deliberate deception. 'Scales of deceit' are scales built or handled to cheat. The same phrase opens 11:1.
מאזנים · moznayim · pair of scales
A balance with two pans, one for the stone weight and one for the goods or silver.
Proverbs 20:24
God is the one who guides each step a person takes. So how can anyone fully understand where his own life is going?
A man's steps are from the LORD;
The word used for man here is the one for a man in his strength. Even he does not finally direct his own steps. God does.
so how can any human understand his own road?
This draws the conclusion. If God is directing the course, no one can fully see where his own life is going or why. The proper response is humility and trust, not confidence in one's own reading of events.
מצעד · mits'ad · step
The individual paces that make up a journey. Psalm 37:23 has nearly the same line.
יהוה · YHWH · God's covenant name
The Hebrew puts 'from the LORD' first for emphasis.
אדם · adam · human being
Humanity as made from the ground. The first line uses gever, a man in his strength; this line uses the humbler word.
בין · bin · discern
To see into and make sense of.
דרך · derek · road, way of life
The whole course of his life.
Proverbs 20:25
It is a trap to rush into promising something to God and only think about it afterwards.
A person traps himself when he blurts out, This is holy!
To call something holy was to dedicate it to God, usually as a promised gift. Said on impulse, the words become a trap, because a vow to God cannot be taken back.
and only after making his vows stops to think them over.
This names the mistake: the order is backwards. The thinking should come before the promise. Considering afterwards whether you can afford it is too late.
מוקש · moqesh · snare
A bird trap with bait. The person springs it on himself with his own mouth.
קדש · qodesh · set apart for God
Something belonging to God. Saying 'holy' over an animal or a sum of money handed it over to the sanctuary.
נדר · neder · vow
A voluntary promise to give God something. See Ecclesiastes 5:4-6, which gives the same warning.
בקר · baqar · examine, consider
To look into a matter carefully.
A vow was freely made, often in a moment of need or gratitude, but once spoken it was binding (Numbers 30:2, Deuteronomy 23:21-23). The promised animal, money or goods had to be delivered.
The verb behind 'say carelessly' is rare and its exact sense is uncertain; it is generally taken as speaking rashly. All major versions agree on the overall meaning.
Proverbs 20:26
A wise king sorts out the bad people, like a farmer sorting good grain from rubbish. He makes sure they are punished.
A wise king winnows out the wicked
This takes up the picture of verse 8. A wise ruler separates wrongdoers from the rest of society as a farmer separates chaff from grain.
and rolls the threshing wheel over them.
This goes a step further, from sorting to punishment. In the actual harvest threshing comes before winnowing, so the two lines together simply mean he carries the whole process through. He does not leave evil standing.
חכם · chakam · wise, skilled
His wisdom shows in being able to tell the wicked from the innocent, as Solomon did in 1 Kings 3:16-28.
מלך · melek · king
The third king saying of the chapter.
זרה · zarah · winnow, scatter
The same verb as verse 8. There he winnowed evil; here, the people who do it.
רשע · rasha · guilty, wicked
Originally a court term for the party in the wrong.
אופן · ophan · wheel
A wheel. Isaiah 28:27-28 mentions the cart wheel rolled over grain to thresh it.
Grain was threshed by driving a heavy sledge or a wheeled cart over the cut stalks on a hard floor, which broke the husks from the kernels. Then the heap was winnowed in the wind.
Proverbs 20:27
The part of you that knows right from wrong is God's lamp. It shines into the deepest, most hidden places inside you.
The breath of life in a person is the LORD's lamp,
The breath God breathed into humans is what makes them able to know themselves. The proverb calls it a lamp that belongs to the LORD and that he has set inside each person.
searching through every room deep within him.
This says what the lamp does. It lights up the hidden places of motive and thought. A person's inner awareness, his conscience, is the means by which God exposes what is in him.
נשמה · neshamah · breath
The breath of life that God breathed into the man in Genesis 2:7. Not the more common word ruach.
נר · ner · lamp
The same word as verse 20. There a lamp went out; here one is kept burning by God inside a person.
יהוה · YHWH · God's covenant name
The lamp is his. The self-knowledge is ours, but it serves his searching.
חפש · chaphas · search thoroughly
To hunt through a place, as one searches a house.
חדרי בטן · chadrei baten · chambers of the belly
Literally the inner rooms of the belly. A cheder is the private back room of a house. The phrase returns in verse 30.
Proverbs 20:28
Being loyal and truthful keeps a king safe. His faithful kindness is what keeps him on his throne.
Loyal love and faithfulness keep guard over a king;
The two qualities are pictured as bodyguards. A ruler's real protection is his own kindness and reliability, which win the loyalty of his people.
by loyal love he holds up his throne.
The second line repeats one of the two words for emphasis. Verses 8 and 26 showed the king's severity toward evil. This verse balances them: his rule is propped up by kindness, not by force alone.
חסד · chesed · loyal love
Faithful kindness. It stands first and last in the Hebrew verse.
אמת · emet · faithfulness, truth
Firmness and reliability. Chesed and emet are a fixed pair, used of God himself in Exodus 34:6.
נצר · natsar · guard
To guard as a watchman does.
מלך · melek · king
The fourth and last king saying of the chapter.
סעד · sa'ad · support, prop up
To hold something up so it does not fall.
כסא · kisse · seat, throne
The seat of judgment from verse 8, standing for his rule.
Proverbs 20:29
Young people are admired for being strong. Old people are admired for their grey hair.
What young men have to be proud of is their strength,
Each stage of life has its own particular gift. For the young it is physical vigor, the ability to do hard things.
and what dignifies old men is gray hair.
For the old it is the gray head, the visible sign of years lived and experience gained. The lines stand side by side without ranking them. Neither age should despise the other, and a community needs both.
תפארת · tiph'eret · beauty, pride
What makes someone admirable, their ornament.
בחור · bachur · young man in his prime
A man in the full strength of youth, of fighting age.
כח · koach · power, vigor
Physical power and the capacity to work.
הדר · hadar · splendor, dignity
Majesty or dignity, a word also used of kings and of God.
זקן · zaqen · old man, elder
The same word means elder, the title of those who led and judged the community.
שיבה · seyvah · gray head, old age
Proverbs 16:31 calls it a crown of glory.
Proverbs 20:30
A hard punishment that hurts can scrub the wrong out of a person. It reaches right down deep inside.
Blows that leave bruises scrub away evil,
Painful correction is compared to scouring a dirty pot. The proverb says that hard discipline can remove wrong from a person when words have not.
and beatings reach the inner rooms of a person.
This takes the first line further. The strokes land on the body but their effect reaches the deepest part of a person, the same place the LORD's lamp searches in verse 27. The aim is a change inside, not just pain.
חבורה · chabburah · bruise, welt
The mark left by a blow. The same word describes the wounds of the suffering servant in Isaiah 53:5.
פצע · petsa · wound
An injury that breaks the skin.
מרק · maraq · scour, polish
To scrub or polish metal. Leviticus 6:28 uses it for scouring a bronze pot.
רע · ra · bad, harmful
The wrong in a person that needs removing.
מכה · makkah · stroke, blow
A stroke, as from a rod.
חדרי בטן · chadrei baten · chambers of the belly
The same phrase as verse 27. The lamp shows what is in those rooms and discipline cleans them.
Beating with a rod was an ordinary legal and household punishment in the ancient world (Deuteronomy 25:1-3). The proverb speaks from within that practice. Its claim is about what painful correction achieves.
The Hebrew of this verse is compressed and difficult, and the first verb is preserved in two slightly different forms. Versions agree on the general sense: painful correction cleanses a person inwardly.