Proverbs 20:18
in Proverbs 20Set plans by consultation, and wage war under sound guidance.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Every purpose is established by counsel; And by wise guidance make thou war.
KJV
Every purpose is established by counsel: and with good advice make war.
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This verse in Proverbs 20
Commentary
3 notes on this verseWith good advice make war, - Perhaps there is not a precept in this whole book so little regarded as this. Most of the wars that are undertaken are wars of injustice, ambition, aggrandizement, and caprice, which can have had no previous good counsel. A minister, who is perhaps neither a good nor a great man, counsels his king to make war; the cabinet must be brought into it, and a sufficient number out of the states of the kingdom gained over to support it. By and by, what was begun through caprice must be maintained through necessity.
This site's exposition
Take his garment that is surety for a stranger
on Proverbs 20:16-19
Take his garment that is surety for a stranger repeats the book's standing warning against pledging for someone not well known, harsher here for a pledge given for a strange woman, a debt Gill reads as one no honest court will excuse. Bread of deceit is sweet to a man; but afterwards his mouth shall be filled with gravel matches dishonest gain's taste to its true weight, sweet going down and gravel coming up. The cluster closes on counsel and speech, every purpose needing good advice before it is acted on, and the talebearer who reveals secrets earning the same warning as the flatterer, since loose talk and false praise both cost more than they seem to.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
Every purpose is established by counsel,....
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
Plans with counsel will be established, and with strategies wage war If you come to wage war against Satan, come with strategies of repentance, prayer and fasting.
2 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
Bread of falsehood is sweet to a man Adultery with a married woman.
with one who divulges secrets, one who gossips, or with one who entices with his lips who speaks smoothly to seduce you and entice you.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 3 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
6 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| מַ֭חֲשָׁבוֹת | machashavot | plans | H4284 → | 56 times |
| בְּעֵצָ֣ה | beetzah | by counsel | H6098 → | 89 times |
| תִכּ֑וֹן | tikon | it is established | H3559 → | 217 times |
| וּ֝בְתַחְבֻּל֗וֹת | uvetachbulot | and by wise directions | H8458 → | 6 times |
| עֲשֵׂ֣ה | ʾaseh | make | H6213 → | 2628 times |
| מִלְחָמָֽה׃ | milchamah | war | H4421 → | 320 times |
מַ֭חֲשָׁבוֹתplans
machashavotH4284 →56 times
בְּעֵצָ֣הby counsel
beetzahH6098 →89 times
תִכּ֑וֹןit is established
tikonH3559 →217 times
וּ֝בְתַחְבֻּל֗וֹתand by wise directions
uvetachbulotH8458 →6 times
עֲשֵׂ֣הmake
ʾasehH6213 →2628 times
מִלְחָמָֽה׃war
milchamahH4421 →320 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Proverbs 15:22Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed.
it leads to
- Proverbs 11:14
For lack of guidance, a nation falls, but with many counselors comes deliverance.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Ecclesiastes 8:6
For there is a right time and procedure to every purpose, though a man’s misery weighs heavily upon him.
- Proverbs 11:14
Through
Proverbs 11:14For lack of guidance, a nation falls, but with many counselors comes deliverance.
it leads to
- Proverbs 15:22
Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Proverbs 24:6
Only with sound guidance should you wage war, and victory lies in a multitude of counselors.
- Proverbs 16:22
Understanding is a fountain of life to its possessor, but the discipline of fools is folly.
- 1 Kings 12:1–19
Then Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had gone there to make him king.
- Proverbs 15:22
Through
Proverbs 24:6Only with sound guidance should you wage war, and victory lies in a multitude of counselors.
it leads to
- Ephesians 6:10–20
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power.
- Luke 14:31
Or what king on his way to war with another king will not first sit down and consider whether he can engage with ten thousand men the one coming against him with twenty thousand?
- Ephesians 6:10–20
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Proverbs
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.