Proverbs 24:11
in Proverbs 24Rescue those being led away to death, and restrain those stumbling toward the slaughter.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Deliver them that are carried away unto death, And those that are ready to be slain see that thou hold back.
KJV
If thou forbear to deliver them that are drawn unto death, and those that are ready to be slain;
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This verse in Proverbs 24
Commentary
7 notes on this verseAnd so learn from your own experience to sympathize with those in trouble, and never to terrify with destructive despair those who are in danger, nor harden them with severe speeches, but rather restore them with gentle and kindly consolations, and as the wise Solomon says, "Spare not to deliver those who are led forth to death, and to redeem those who are to be slain," and after the example of our Saviour, break not the bruised reed, nor quench the smoking flax, and ask of the Lord that grace, by means of which you yourself may faithfully learn both in deed and power to sing: "the Lord hath given me a learned tongue that I should know how to uphold by word him that is weary."
This site's exposition
deliver them that are drawn unto death
on Proverbs 24:11-12
Deliver them that are drawn unto death, and those that are ready to be slain reads most plainly as rescuing the condemned from unjust execution, and Henry and the older bench take it that way, a call to intervene for a neighbor about to suffer a miscarriage of justice. Clarke notes the verse has also been read more broadly of anyone perishing, physically or spiritually, whom a bystander could help and does not; the excuse offered in verse 12, we knew it not, is answered either way by the same question, doth not he that pondereth the heart consider it, God weighing the plea against what the bystander actually knew.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
A commentator
John ChrysostomON THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS 10:9 · Written in the 5th century.
proposed
"Redeem those who are ready to be slain; spare no effort." [Solomon] did not say, "Enquire curiously, and learn who they are," and yet for the most part they who are led away to execution are wicked. This especially is charity. For he that does good to a friend does it not altogether for God's sake; but he that does good to one unknown acts purely for God's sake. Do not spare your money; even if it is necessary to spend all, yet give.But we, when we see persons in extreme distress, bewailing themselves, suffering things more grievous than ten thousand deaths, and oftentimes unjustly, we [I say] are sparing of our money and unsparing of our brothers. We are careful of lifeless things but neglect the living soul!
The Medieval Church1 voice
Deliver those who are being led to death, etc. It can be taken mystically. Deliver those who are deceived by heretics, by preaching the correct faith, by showing the examples of good works, liberate those who are being led to destruction by living evilly with …
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
If thou forbear to deliver them that are drawn unto death,....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Literally: “Deliver those that are drawn unto death, And those who totter to the slaughter - if Thou withdraw ...” i. e., “O withdraw them,” save them from their doom; in contrast to Pro 24:10. The structure and meaning are both somewhat obscure; but the sentence is complete in itself, and is not a mere hypothesis concluded in the following verses.
If thou forbear to deliver - If thou seest the innocent taken by the hand of lawless power or superstitious zeal, and they are about to be put to death, thou shouldst rise up in their behalf, boldly plead for them, testify to their innocence when thou knowest it; and thus thou wilt not be guilty of blood; which thou wouldst be, if, through any pretense, thou shouldst neglect to save the life of a man unjustly condemned.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
will you say Heb. כי תאמר. And this instance of כי is used as an expression of “perhaps.”
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. 6 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
7 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| הַ֭צֵּל | hatzel | deliver | H5337 → | 212 times |
| לְקֻחִ֣ים | lekuchim | [those being] taken | H3947 → | 966 times |
| לַמָּ֑וֶת | lamavet | to <the> death | H4194 → | 156 times |
| וּמָטִ֥ים | umatim | and [those who] are staggering | H4131 → | 38 times |
| לַ֝הֶ֗רֶג | lahereg | to the slaughter | H2027 → | |
| אִם־ | ʾim- | if | H518 → | 1069 times |
| תַּחְשֽׂוֹךְ׃ | tachsokh | you will restrain | H2820 → | 28 times |
הַ֭צֵּלdeliver
hatzelH5337 →212 times
לְקֻחִ֣ים[those being] taken
lekuchimH3947 →966 times
לַמָּ֑וֶתto <the> death
lamavetH4194 →156 times
וּמָטִ֥יםand [those who] are staggering
umatimH4131 →38 times
לַ֝הֶ֗רֶגto the slaughter
laheregH2027 →
אִם־if
ʾim-H518 →1069 times
תַּחְשֽׂוֹךְ׃you will restrain
tachsokhH2820 →28 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
Psalms 82:4Rescue the weak and needy; save them from the hand of the wicked.
it leads to
- Proverbs 24:11–12
Rescue those being led away to death, and restrain those stumbling toward the slaughter.
- Job 29:12
because I rescued the poor who cried out and the fatherless who had no helper.
- Job 5:15–16
He saves the needy from the sword in their mouth and from the clutches of the powerful.
- Psalms 140:12
I know that the LORD upholds justice for the poor and defends the cause of the needy.
- Psalms 72:12–14
For he will deliver the needy who cry out and the afflicted who have no helper.
- Proverbs 24:11–12
Through
Job 29:17I shattered the fangs of the unjust and snatched the prey from his teeth.
it leads to
- Psalms 3:7
Arise, O LORD! Save me, O my God! Strike all my enemies on the jaw; break the teeth of the wicked.
- Proverbs 30:14
there is a generation whose teeth are swords and whose jaws are knives, devouring the oppressed from the earth and the needy from among men.
- Psalms 124:6
Blessed be the LORD, who has not given us as prey to their teeth.
- Psalms 3:7
About Proverbs
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Bede, Commentary on Proverbs; John Cassian, CONFERENCE 2:13; John Chrysostom, ON THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS 10:9; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.